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The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition

Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher

Oxford Library of Psychology

One of the first scholarly books on the topic of women and competition
Offers readers concrete details and directions on future research
Features a diversity of theoretical situations and foundations to help ground the reader in historical and contemporary research

The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition

Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher

Description

While women are generally perceived to be less competitive than men, women compete in many ways and in a variety of situations. Women try to make themselves look more attractive to draw the attention of a desirable mate. They will use gossip as a form of informational warfare to influence reputations. They compete as mothers to gain access to resources that directly influence the health of their children. They use selfies posted on social media to manipulate others' perceptions. Women compete all of their lives: in the womb, through adolescence and adulthood, and into their elder years.

The topic of women's competition has gained significant momentum over the years. Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher, The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition provides readers with direct evidence of this growth and is one of the first scholarly volumes to focus specifically on this topic. Fisher and her team of contributors offer a definitive worldview of the current state of knowledge regarding competition among women today. Many of the chapters are grounded within an evolutionary framework, allowing for authors to investigate the adaptive nature of women's competitive behaviors, motivations, and cognition. Other chapters rely on alternative frameworks, with contributors also asserting that socio-cultural forces are the culprit shaping women's competitive drives. Additionally, several contributors focus their attention on issues faced by adolescent girls, and explore the developmental trajectories for young women through adulthood.

Designed to serve as a source of inspiration for future research and direction, The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition is a stand-out scholarly text focusing on the many competitive forces driving women today.

The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition

Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher

Oxford Library of Psychology

Section I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Maryanne L. Fisher
Section II: Theory and Overview
Chapter 2: Competition throughout Women's Lives
Bobbi Low
Chapter 3: Sexual Competition Among Women: A Review of the Theory and Supporting Evidence
Steven Arnocky & Tracy Vaillancourt
Chapter 4: Female Intrasexual Competition in Primates: Why Human's Aren't as Progressive as We Think
Nicole Scott
Section III: Social Status and Aggression
Chapter 5: Feminist and Evolutionary Perspectives of Female-Female Competition, Status Seeking, and Social Network Formation
Laurette T. Liesen
Chapter 6: Adolescent Peer Aggression and Female Reproductive Competition
Andrew C. Gallup
Chapter 7: Cooperation Drives Competition among Tsimane Women in the Bolivian Amazon
Stacey L. Rucas
Chapter 8: Competition Between Female Friends
Chenthila Nagamuthu & Elizabeth Page-Gould
Chapter 9: The Element of Surprise: Women of the Dark Triad
P. Lynne Honey
Section IV: Communication and Gossip
Chapter 10: Competitive Communication among Women: The Pretty Prevail by Means of Indirect Aggression
Grace Anderson
Chapter 11: Gossip and Competition among Women: How “The Gossip” Became a Woman and how “Gossip” Became Her Weapon of Choice
Francis T. McAndrew
Chapter 12: Women's Talk? Exploring the Relationship Between Gossip, Sex, Mate Competition, and Mate Poaching
Katelin Sutton & Megan J. Oaten
Chapter 13: Informational Warfare: Coalitional Gossiping as a Strategy for Within-Group Aggression
Nicole H. Hess
Section V: Mate Availability and Mating Relationships
Chapter 14: Do Women Compete for Mates When Men are Scarce? Sex Ratio Imbalances and Women's Mate Competition Cross-Culturally
Emily Stone
Chapter 15: Operational Sex Ratio and Female Competition: Scarcity Breeds Intensity
Haley M. Dillon, Lora E. Adair, & Gary L. Brase
Chapter 16: The Influence of Women's Mate Value on Intrasexual Competition
Maryanne L. Fisher & Ana María Fernández
Chapter 17: Single and Partnered Women: Competing to Obtain and Retain High Quality Men
Gayle Brewer
Chapter 18: I'll Have Who She's Having: Mate Copying, Mate Poaching and Mate Retention
Lora E. Adair, Haley M. Dillon, & Gary L. Brase
Chapter 19: Intrasexual Mate Competition and Breakups: Who Really Wins?
Craig Morris, Melanie L. Beaussart, Chris Reiber, & Linda S. Krajewski
Section VI: Endocrinology and Psychobiological Considerations
Chapter 20: Psychobiological Responses to Competition in Women
Raquel Costa, Miguel A. Serrano, & Alicia Salvador
Chapter 21: The Endocrinology of Female Competition
Kelly Cobey, & Amanda Hahn
Chapter 22: The Effect of Fertility on Women's Intrasexual Competition
Lambrianos Nikiforidis, Ashley Rae Arsena, & Kristina M. Durante
Section VII: Health and Aging
Chapter 23: Social Aggression, Sleep and Wellbeing among Sidama Women of Rural Southwestern Ethiopia
Alissa A. Miller & Stacey L. Rucas
Chapter 24: Is Female Competition at the Heart of Reproductive Suppression and Eating Disorders?
Catherine Salmon
Chapter 25: Moderation of Female-female Competition for Matings by Competitors' Age and Parity
Melanie MacEacheron & Lorne Campbell
Section VIII: Motherhood and Family
Chapter 26: Competitive Motherhood from a Comparative Perspective
Katherine A. Valentine, Norman P. Li, & Jose C. Yong
Chapter 27: Cooperative and Competitive Mothering: From Bonding to Rivalry in the Service of Childrearing
Rosemarie I. Sokol-Chang, Rebecca L. Burch & Maryanne L. Fisher
Chapter 28: Conflicting Tastes: Conflict Between Female Family Members in Choice of Romantic Partners
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair & Robert Biegler
Chapter 29: Darwinian Perspectives on Women's Progenicide
Alita J. Cousins & Theresa Porter
Section IX: Physical Appearance
Chapter 30: The Causes and Consequences of Women's Competitive Beautification
Danielle J. DelPriore, Marjorie L. Prokosch, & Sarah E. Hill
Chapter 31: Ravishing Rivals: Female Intrasexual Competition and Cosmetic Surgery
Shelli L. Dubbs, Ashleigh J. Kelly, & Fiona Kate Barlow
Chapter 32: Intrasexual Competition Among Beauty Pageant Contestants
Rebecca Shaiber, Laura Johnsen & Glenn Geher
Chapter 33: Fashion as a Set of Signals in Female Intrasexual Competition
Laura Johnsen & Glenn Geher
Section X: Competition in Virtual Contexts
Chapter 34: Female Virtual Intrasexual Competition and its Consequences
Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li, Katherine A. Valentine, & April R. Smith
Chapter 35: Facebook Frenemies and Selfie-Promotion: Women and Competition in the Digital Age
Amanda E. Guitar & Rachael A. Carmen
Chapter 36: Women's Use of Computer Games to Practice Intrasexual Competition
Tami M. Meredith
Section XI: Competition in Applied Settings
Chapter 37: The Buzz on the Queen Bee and Other Characterizations of Women's Intrasexual Competition at Work
Lucie Kocum, Delphine S. Courvoisier, & Saundra Vernon
Chapter 38: Food as a Means for Female Power Struggles
Charlotte J. S. De Backer, Liselot Hudders, & Maryanne L. Fisher
Chapter 39: Evolution of Artistic and Aesthetic Propensities through Female Competitive Ornamentation
Marco A. C. Varella, Jaroslava Varella Valentová, & Ana María Fernández
Chapter 40: “Playing Like a Girl”: Women in Competition in Sport and Physical Activity
Hayley Russell, Julia Dutove, & Lori Dithurbide
Section XII: Conclusion
Chapter 41: Conclusion
Gregory Carter & Maryanne L. Fisher

The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition

Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher

Oxford Library of Psychology

Author Information

Edited by Maryanne L. Fisher, Associate Professor of Psychology and Women and Gender Studies, Saint Mary's University

Maryanne L. Fisher is Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada, and an Affiliate Faculty member at the Kinsey Institute in Indiana. She is an award-winning educator and has published over 90 journal articles spanning a variety of topics. She recently co-edited Evolution's Empress: Darwinian Perspectives on the Nature of Women for Oxford University Press.

Contributors:

Lora E. Adair
Department of Psychological Sciences
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

Grace Anderson
Office of Institutional Research
Great Falls College-Montana State University
Great Falls, MT

Steven Arnocky
Department of Psychology
Nipissing University
North Bay, Ontario, Canada

Ashley Rae Arsena
College of Business
The University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX

Fiona Kate Barlow
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

Melanie L. Beaussart
Department of Psychology
California State University-San Bernardino
San Bernardino, CA

Robert Biegler
Department of Psychology
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Trondheim, Norway

Gary L. Brase
Department of Psychological Sciences
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

Gayle Brewer
School of Psychology
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, England, UK

Rebecca L. Burch
Department of Psychology
State University of New York-Oswego
Oswego, NY

Lorne Campbell
Department of Psychology
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada

Rachael A. Carmen
Department of Psychology
State University of New York-New Paltz
New Paltz, NY

Gregory Carter
Department of Psychology
York St. John University
York, England, UK

Kelly Cobey
Department of Behavior and Evolution
University of Stirling
Stirling, Scotland, UK

Raquel Costa
Department of Psychology
Universidad Miguel Hernández
Alacant, Spain

Delphine S. Courvoisier
Department of Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA

Alita J. Cousins
Department of Psychology
Eastern Connecticut State University
Willimantic, CT

Charlotte J.S. De Backer
Department of Communication Studies
University of Antwerp
Antwerpen, Belgium

Danielle J. DelPriore
Department of Psychology
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX

Haley M. Dillon
Department of Psychological Sciences
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

Lori Dithurbide
School of Health and Human Performance
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Shelli L. Dubbs
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

Kristina M. Durante
College of Business
The University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX

Julia Dutove
School of Kinesiology
Minnesota State University-Mankato
Mankato, MN

Ana María Fernández
School of Psychology
Universidad de Santiago de Chile
Santiago, Chile

Maryanne L. Fisher
Department of Psychology
St. Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Andrew C. Gallup
Department of Psychology
SUNY-Oneonta
Oneonta, NY

Glenn Geher
Department of Psychology
State University of New York-New Paltz
New Paltz, NY

Amanda E. Guitar
Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY

Amanda Hahn
Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Nicole H. Hess
Department of Anthropology
Washington State University at Vancouver
Vancouver, WA

Sarah E. Hill
Department of Psychology
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX

P. Lynne Honey
Department of Psychology
MacEwan University
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Liselot Hudders
Department of Communication Studies
Ghent University
Ghent, Belgium

Laura Johnsen
Department of Psychology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY

Ashleigh J. Kelly
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

Lucie Kocum
Department of Psychology
St. Mary's University
San Antonio, TX

Linda S. Krajewski
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Norco College
Norco, CA

Norman P. Li
School of Social Sciences
Singapore Management University
Singapore

Laurette T. Liesen
Department of Political Science
Lewis University
Romeoville, IL

Bobbi Low
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

Melanie MacEacheron
Department of Psychology
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada

Francis T. McAndrew
Department of Psychology
Knox College
Galesburg, IL

Tami M. Meredith
Department of Mathematics and Computing Science
St. Mary's University
San Antonio, TX

Alissa A. Miller
Department of Anthropology
Washington State University
Pullman, WA

Craig Morris
Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY

Chenthila Nagamuthu
School of Public Health
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Lambrianos Nikiforidis
College of Business
The University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX

Megan J. Oaten
School of Applied Psychology
Griffith University
Nathan, Queensland, Australia

Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair
Department of Psychology
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Trondheim, Norway

Elizabeth Page-Gould
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Theresa Porter
Connecticut Valley Hospital
Middletown, CT

Marjorie L. Prokosch
Department of Psychology
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX

Chris Reiber
Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY

Stacey L. Rucas
Department of Anthropology
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA

Hayley Russell
Department of Health and Exercise Science
Gustavus Adolphus College
Saint Peter, MN

Catherine Salmon
Department of Psychology
University of Redlands
Redlands, CA

Alicia Salvador
Department of Psychology
University of Valencia
Valencia, Spain

Nicole M. Scott
Center for Cognitive Sciences
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN

Miguel A. Serrano
Department of Psychology
University of Valencia
Valencia, Spain

Rebecca Shaiber
Department of Psychology
Loyola University
Chicago, IL

April R. Smith
Department of Psychology
Miami University
Oxford, OH

Rosemarie I. Sokol-Chang
Department of Psychology
State University of New York-New Paltz
New Paltz, NY

Emily Stone
Department of Anthropology
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

Katelin Sutton
The Education for Practice Institute
Charles Sturt University
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Tracy Vaillancourt
School of Psychology
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Katherine A. Valentine
School of Social Sciences
Singapore Management University
Singapore

Jaroslava Varella Valentová
Institute of Psychology
University of São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil

Marco A.C. Varella
Institute of Psychology
University of Brasília
Brasília, Brazil

Saundra Vernon
Department of Psychology
St. Mary's University
San Antonio, TX

Jose C. Yong
School of Social Sciences
Singapore Management University
Singapore