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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Polygyny and Male Risk-Taking for Status

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Synonyms

Male mating competition

Definition

When men can have multiple female partners, male reproductive success is more highly skewed, and male mating competition is more intense.

Introduction

Among mammals and most other animals, females are the limiting sex in reproduction because they provide almost all of the physiological resources required for offspring production. The larger investments allocated to offspring result in much lower potential reproductive capacities in females compared to males. Because of these factors, females are more discriminating in mate selection, and males exert comparatively more effort than females in attracting and retaining mates (Bateman 1948; Trivers 1972).

Although men provide less parental investment in offspring than women, human paternal investment is considerably larger than that of most other primate males (Buss and Schmitt 1993). Altricial human offspring require tremendous parental investment, and the value of the male contribution to this...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Daniel Kruger

Authors
  1. Daniel Kruger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Kruger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Psychology Department, University of Redlands, 1200 E. Colton Avenue, 92373, Redlands, CA, USA

    Jessica Hehman

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Kruger, D. (2017). Polygyny and Male Risk-Taking for Status. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2562-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2562-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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