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Sex Differences in Ability to Assess Fighting Ability

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Formidability assessment

Definition

Empirical evidence supports the conclusion that men and women are equally skilled at assessing fighting ability in men.

Introduction

Humans show a large degree of sexual dimorphism in upper body strength. Because of the tight relationship between upper body strength and fighting ability, men are much better equipped to engage in physical aggression than women. Historical records of human activity support the idea that widespread intrasexual (same-sex) competition was a common occurrence between human males. This historical pattern suggests that any cognitive program that developed through natural selection might be especially tuned to assess cues to fighting ability in men.

Empirical Evidence

Evidence in support of this idea comes from work by Sell and colleagues (2009, 2010). Strength ratings of men judged from facial photos correlate more strongly with upper body strength (r = .39) than strength ratings for women (r= .21). Similarly,...

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References

  • Lassek, W. D., & Gaulin, S. J. C. (2009). Costs and benefits of fat-free muscle mass in men: Relationship to mating success, dietary requirements, and native immunity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 322–328.

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  • Little, A. C., Třebický, V., Havlíček, J., Roberts, S. C., & Kleisner, K. (2015). Human perception of fighting ability: Facial cues predict winners and losers in mixed martial arts fights. Behavioral Ecology, 26, 1470–1475.

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  • Sell, A., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J., Sznycer, D., von Rueden, C., & Gurven, M. (2009). Human adaptations for the visual assessment of strength and fighting ability from the body and face. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276, 575–584.

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  • Sell, A., Bryant, G. A., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J., Sznycer, D., von Rueden, C.,… & Gurven, M. (2010). Adaptations in humans for assessing physical strength from the voice. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277, 3509–3518.

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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). Sex Differences in Ability to Assess 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_1434-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1434-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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