Evolutionary parental investment differences explain men’s competitive and aggressive intergroup behavior

Evidence

First, we have reasoned that the differences in obligate parental investment between men and women have set up an incentive structure that favors competitive and risky behavior among men in the service of acquiring mating opportunities. The logic behind intrasexual competition among men was then extrapolated to intergroup relations where in-group men compete with out-group men for access to territory, status, mates, and other resources. Because women are considered a highly valued resource among men, they are not targeted as members of out-groups for harm or debilitation, but are instead often incorporated into the winning group. This logic confirms the initial prediction of the SMTH that men serve as the primary targets and agents of intergroup aggression. However, the SMTH additionally specified that it should be men of subordinate groups who are primarily targeted. We have attempted to revise this assertion using logic from parental investment theory and sexual selection and have also cited evidence in which subordinate groups have displayed intergroup biases toward dominant groups. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1270

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Male aggression is primary and explains competition, not vice versa. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 95