Cultural dimensions associated with intrasexual competitiveness.

Abstract

In the present study among 80 exchange students from 30 countries studying in The Netherlands, I examined how intrasexual competitiveness (ISC), that is, a competitive attitude toward members of one's own gender, was associated with various cultural dimensions. A multiple regression analysis showed that vertical individualism predicted ISC positively and that horizontal collectivism predicted ISC negatively. That is, the higher individuals were in ISC, the more likely they came from cultures accepting inequality and status differences as a law of nature and the less likely they came from cultures emphasizing the similarity of members of their own culture. In addition, data independently collected showed that ISC was typical for those from cultures with a low level of gender egalitarian values. I conclude that cultural values emphasizing the desire to acquire status, as well as cultures values devaluing similarity with others and gender egalitarianism, predict higher levels of ISC. Public Significance StatementA study among international students from 30 different cultures in The Netherlands showed that the more competitive people were with respect to members of their own gender, the more likely they came from cultures accepting inequality and status differences as a law of nature and the less likely they came from cultures emphasizing the similarity of members of their own culture and equality between men and women.

Men’s Facial Hair Preferences Reflect Facial Hair Impression Management Functions Across Contexts and Men Know It

“…For instance, dispositional tendencies toward intrasexual competition Buunk & Fisher, 2009), personality traits like psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism (Bird et al, 2016;Jonason et al, 2020), and motivational biases of wanting power or affiliation (Carpinella & Johnson, 2013;Mannes, 2012;Sherlock et al, 2017) may also play important roles in the psychology surrounding beards. Sixth, our results focused on Polish men only but there may be a reason to examine intrasexual competition, and thus beardedness, across cultural contexts (Buunk, 2022). Moreover, human populations vary in facial hair growth (e.g., facial hair is a more characteristic feature for European and Central Asia populations than African populations and East-Asian populations; Pazhoohi & Kingstone, 2020), so our results may pertain more to some populations than other populations.…”

Three factors of the Intrasexual Competition Scale?

“…While the movement from a uni-to a bidimensional scale may reveal previously obscured nuance, it is exploratory in nature, tied to the specific factor analytic approach the authors took (i.e., principal axis factoring) when other approaches may reveal new information (Joliffe & Morgan, 1992). In addition, work in this area tends to focus on WEIRD participants undermining adaptationist accounts (but see Buunk, 2022). Therefore, in this exploratory study, we used principal components analyses in a cross-cultural database and try to understand those factors using classical test methods.…”