Definition
Devaluing a woman’s mate value relative to one’s own mate value by criticizing her physical appearance.
Introduction
When people compete against same-sex peers for romantic partners, they typically compete to embody traits that the opposite sex finds attractive (Buss 1988). Consequently, the areas in which women compete with one another are dictated by men’s preferences. One trait that men find highly desirable in a potential partner is physical attractiveness (Buss 1988). Sometimes, women’s strategy is to enhance their own physical appearance to compete for partners. However, another strategy that women use to compete for romantic partners is to derogate other women’s attractiveness. In other words, women attempt to devalue other women’s physical appearance relative to their own physical appearance (Buss and Dedden 1990).
What Is Derogation of Attractiveness?
Derogation of...
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References
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Hurst, A.C. (2016). Derogation of Attractiveness. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_879-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_879-1
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