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Intrasexual Competition Between Females

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Intrasexual competition refers to competition between individuals of the same sex for access to mating opportunities (Andersson 1994) and is expressed through both direct aggression (e.g., physical combat) and indirect aggression (e. g., competitor derogation, self-promotion) (Campbell 2004; Vaillancourt 2013). Although direct aggression among women clearly does occur (Stockley and Campbell 2013), intrasexual competition among women more commonly takes the form of indirect aggression (Vaillancourt 2013). These indirect competitive strategies can act to increase a woman’s own access to her preferred mate (e.g., through self-promotion) or decrease a rival’s access to mating opportunities (e.g., through competitor derogation).

Self-promotion involves attracting attention to and enhancing one’s own attractiveness, typically through the use of attractive clothing and makeup (Buss 1988; Grammer et al. 2004; Schmitt and Buss 1996). Self-promotion is an effective tactic for mate attraction...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Amanda Hahn & Benedict Jones

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  1. Amanda Hahn
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  2. Benedict Jones
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Correspondence to Benedict Jones .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K Shackelford

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

    Viviana A Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Westfield State University, Westfield, MA, USA

    Joseph A Camilleri

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Hahn, A., Jones, B. (2021). Intrasexual Competition Between Females. In: Shackelford, T.K., Weekes-Shackelford, V.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2005

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