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Female Choice and Sexual Conflict Theory

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Epigamic selection; Female mate choice

Definition

When females are the choosy sex and retain primary control over which males they will mate with. Thus, members of the lower investment sex, usually males, compete for features than are attractive to members of the high investing sex, usually females. In this sense, females choose on the basis of male displays or traits.

Introduction

The outcome of sexual selection is the evolution of secondary sexual characteristics that are designed to attract and compete over mates. Traits that evolve via sexual selection do so as a result of competition for mates (intrasexual competition) or mate attraction (epigamic selection). Intrasexual competition is competition between members of the low investment sex (usually males) for copulations with the high investment sex (usually females). Since males are usually the low investment sex, they are the most intrasexually selected. This results in traits beneficial for competing with other males...

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Correspondence to Catherine Salmon .

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Salmon, C. (2018). Female Choice and Sexual Conflict Theory. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3697-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3697-1

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