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Assessment of Fighting Ability

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Formidability assessment

Definition

The process by which cognitive programs predict the winner of a physical conflict in order to make adaptive decisions about whether to engage in or withdraw from conflict.

Introduction

Although humans and other social species faced many different recurrent problems over evolutionary history, accurately gauging the fighting ability of same species competitors was undoubtedly a pressing concern. Organisms that could accurately identify competitors’ fighting ability would have been better at assessing the likelihood of succeeding in a physical conflict, which in turn would have facilitated decisions to escalate or withdraw. In the long run, making strategic decisions based on accurate assessment of fighting ability would have led to a longer lifespan with more opportunities for mating, increasing an organism’s reproductive success. Thus, it seems likely that natural selection would have favored the evolution of a cognitive program that could...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    David Johnson

Authors
  1. David Johnson
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Correspondence to David Johnson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

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

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Johnson, D. (2016). Assessment of Fighting Ability. 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_941-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_941-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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