Definition
The process of increasing women’s willingness to engage in competition
Introduction
Competition among different species is one of the main structuring forces in the living world, shaping different ecological communities, while intraspecific competition is the main driving mechanisms behind natural selection in Darwin’s theory of evolution, leading to fitness-enhancing (Darwin 1872). However, individuals between and within species differ significantly in how much they invest into their competitive ability. While some individuals are very competitive in order to get access to high-quality resources, others prefer to avoid competition and make the most of lower-quality resources that are left over for them (Baldauf et al. 2014).
Competition levels also vary across sexes. Among humans, males are more competitive than females, reflecting different environmental...
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References
Apicella, C. L., & Dreber, A. (2015). Sex differences in competitiveness: Hunter-gatherer women and girls compete less in gender-neutral and male-centric tasks. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 1(3), 247–269.
Baldauf, S. A., Engqvist, L., & Weissing, F. J. (2014). Diversifying evolution of competitiveness. Nature Communications, 5, 5233.
Buser, T. (2012). The impact of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptives on competitiveness. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 83(1), 1–10.
Campbell, A. A. (2013). Mind of her own: The evolutionary psychology of women. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Darwin, C. (1872). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. New York: D. Appleton and Company, Broadway.
Hardy, S. B. (1981). The woman that never evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L. (2011). Gender and competition. Annual Review of Economics, 3(1), 601–630.
Vaillancourt, T., & Sharma, A. (2011). Intolerance of sexy peers: Intrasexual competition among women. Aggressive Behavior, 37(6), 569–577.
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Nascimento, B.D.S. (2018). Enhancing Women’s Competitiveness. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2813-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2813-1
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