Muscularity and Strength Affect Individual Variation in Self-Perception of Fighting Ability in Men

Abstract

Objective: There is evidence that competitive conflicts are the main form of intrasexual competition among men. The capacity to recognize visual cues of fighting ability in competitors is thought to be an important characteristic that allows men to avoid the costs of contest competition. However, for an accurate comparison to take place, individuals need to compare the fighting ability of their competitors to their own to assess this asymmetry.Methods: In order to improve our understanding of this self-assessment process, here we study the relationship between visual fighting ability cues, namely (i) muscularity, as measured with a bioimpedance device, (ii) the real capacity to inflict cost to a rival based on strength, as measured with a hand grip dynamometer (HGS), and (iii) self-perceived fighting ability, as determined with a questionnaire. The study sample was 364 men between 18 and 38 years of age (M ± SD = 22.27 ± 3.99).Results: Our results confirm the expected positive relationship between upper-body muscularity and strength, while controlling for body mass index (BMI). However, muscularity explained only around 30.2% of the variance in strength. In addition, muscularity was related to self-perception of fighting ability in our sample, its effect being partially mediated by strength.Conclusion: The more muscular men perceive their fighting ability as being greater, and not only because they are stronger (at least in the HGS task). Accordingly, it seems that men take into account the overestimation the robustness of the relationship between strength and muscularity that prevails within his peers.

The effect of visually manipulating back size and morphology on back perception, body ownership, and attitudes towards self-capacity during a lifting task

“…Contrary to our hypothesis, the appearance of a strong, muscled back did not translate to an increase in perceived back strength or ability. This appears inconsistent with past work which has shown that an objective visual measurement of muscularity, but not strength per se, predicts self-perceived fighting ability in men (Muñoz-Reyes et al, 2019). However, as mentioned above, our results may not be overly surprising given the lack of embodiment seen for the Strong illusion condition.…”

The Male Warrior Hypothesis: Testosterone-related Cooperation and Aggression in the Context of Intergroup Conflict

“…Body Muscularity. We followed the protocol used by Muñoz-Reyes et al 55 . We first measured the participants' height in centimeters, barefoot, and with a manual stadiometer (SECA ® 203).…”

“…However, as far as we have been able to determine, there have been no studies that measure the three effects of developmental T on aggression and cooperation in intergroup conflict scenarios versus control conditions. This is important since T levels during developmental stages, especially during puberty, influence traits linked to physical strength, like skeletal muscle mass (SMM), which affect different behavioral manifestations 53,55 . Moreover, traits related to developmental T levels are thought to play an important role in intrasexual competition 56 and, consequently, in intergroup conflict.…”

Facial expressions of Asian people exposed to constructed urban forests: Accuracy validation and variation assessment

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