CHAPTER 11: CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SEXES
Chapter Summary
Sexual conflict is defined as genetic conflict of interest between individual males and females. Conflict
between men and women pervades social living, from disagreements on dates to emotional distress within
marriages. Evolutionary psychology provides several key insights into why such conflicts occur and the
particular forms they take. The first insight comes from strategic interference theory, which holds that
conflict results from a person blocking or impeding another person’s successful enactment of a strategy
designed to reach a particular goal. If a woman happens to be pursuing a strategy of long-term mating and
a man is pursuing a strategy of short-term mating, each will interfere with the successful attainment of the
goal of the other’s strategies. Negative emotions such as anger, distress, and jealousy are hypothesized to
be evolved solutions that alert individuals to strategic interference.
Conflict over sexual access is one of the largest spheres of conflict between the sexes and takes many
forms. First, studies document that men consistently infer greater sexual intent than do women, especially
in response to ambiguous signals such as a smile. Second, men sometimes deceive women, notably about
their emotional involvement and long-term intentions, as a strategy for gaining short-term sexual access
to women. Some of these conflicts stem from evolved cognitive biases, as predicted by the logic of error
Another manifestation of conflict occurs in the form of sexual harassment in the workplace. Men are
overwhelmingly the perpetrators of sexual harassment, women overwhelmingly the victims. The victims
also tend to have a particular profile: They are often young, single, and physically attractive. Women tend
to get more upset about sexual harassment than do men in response to the same acts, supporting the
postulate that this negative emotion serves as a signal of strategic interference. For any particular act of
harassment, women’s upset tends to be greater if the harasser is low in status, such as a garbage collector
or a construction worker, and less if the harasser is high in status.
The coevolution of men’s strategies of sexual exploitation and women’s defenses has commanded a new
line of research and theorizing. Men who pursue sexually exploitative strategies, such as deception and
high levels of verbal pressure, appear to focus on cues to female exploitable victims. Examples include
open body posture, revealing clothing, signs of incapacitation through intoxication, and reckless behavior.
Men find these cues especially attractive in short-term mates, but not at all attractive in long-term mates.
Attraction presumably functions to motivate men to choose women displaying these cues as potential
permission and persisting in sexual advances even if they have said no. Studies show that men tend to
underestimate how upset women get about acts of sexual aggression.
One controversial issue is whether men have evolved specialized rape adaptations or whether rape is a by-
product of other mechanisms such as a male desire for short-term sex combined with a generalized
proclivity to use violence to achieve a variety of goals. The existing empirical findings from studies of
rape do not uniquely support one hypothesis or the other. The finding that rape victims tend to be young
(and hence fertile), for example, does not point to the existence of adaptations to rape, since we know that
men have evolved mate preferences for young women in consensual mating contexts. Research is
urgently needed on the underlying causes to afford paths for reducing or eliminating sexual assault. One
Recent attention has focused on women’s anti-rape defenses, such as the selection of “special friends” for
protection, the choice of mates who are large and dominant, the fear of situations that place a woman at
risk of rape, and the experience of psychological pain following sexual violence. Preliminary tests of
hypotheses about women’s anti-rape defenses are promising.
Jealous conflict defines another large category of conflict between the sexes. Evolutionary psychologists
have suggested that jealousy is an evolved solution to the problems of mate poaching and mate defection.
Men’s jealousy, compared to women’s, will focus heavily on the sexual infidelity of a partner, since
historically that would have compromised a man’s paternity certainty. Women’s jealousy, compared to
men’s, is predicted to focus more on the long-term diversion of a mate’s investment and commitment. A
large body of empirical evidence supports these predictions. The sex differences are robust across
cultures, including Brazil, Japan, Korea, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. They are reasonably
robust using measures of physiological distress and highly robust using cognitive measures, such as
involuntary attention, information search, decision time, and memory for cues to sexual versus emotional
infidelity. And an fMRI study revealed different patterns of brain activation in the sexes, supporting the
hypothesized sex differences in the evolved design features of jealousy.
accrue and control resources, and men have competed with one another to attract women by acquiring
such resources. An evolutionary analysis also suggests that men cannot be united with all other men in
their desire to keep women from gaining access to these resources. Men are in competition primarily with
other men, not with women. Furthermore, men are aligned in their interests with many specific women,
such as their friends, sisters, wives, lovers, nieces, and mothers.
Suggested Readings
Arnqvist, G., & Rowe, L. (2005). Sexual conflict. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Borderhoff Mulder, M.., & Rauch, K.L. (2009). Sexual conflict in humans; vatiations and solutions.
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reeviews, 18)5), 201-214.
Buss, D.M. (2000). The dangerous passion: Why jealousy is as necessary as love and sex. New York:
Free Press.
Figueredo, A. J., & Gladden, P. R., & Beck, C. J. A. (2010). Intimate partner violence and life history
strategy. In A. Goetz & T. Shackelford, (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Sexual Conflict in
Humans. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goetz, A. T., Shackelford, T. K., Romero, G. A., Kaighobadi, F., & Miner, E. J. (2008). Punishment,
proprietariness, and paternity: Men’s violence against women from an evolutionary perspective.
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 13, 481–489.
Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error Management Theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-
sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 81–91.
Lalumiere, M. L., Harris, G. T., Quinsey, V. L., & Rice, M. E. (2005). The causes of rape. Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
Multiple Choice Questions
(a) the asymmetry in the proportion of offspring of each sex within a generation
(b) the process by which males retain sexually dimorphic traits
(c) a conflict between the evolutionary interests of individuals of the two sexes
(d) rape
(a) blocking the successful enactment of a strategy
(b) employment of a strategy to achieve a goal
(c) both (a) and (b)
(d) neither (a) nor (b)
(a) an undesirable byproduct of the fact that the sexual strategies of men and women differ
profoundly
(b) the result of men’s adaptations to engage in any conflict they can potentially win
(c) the result of women’s adaptations to engage in conflict with men to avoid being submissive
(d) a beneficial adaptation selected for through evolution because it decreases the fitness of both
parties
(a) are effective only when pursuing a long-term sexual strategy
(b) should primarily be found in women
(c) serve to highlight problematic events
(d) function to deter others from engaging in a similar strategy
(a) the wearing of revealing clothing
(b) smiling and friendliness
(c) overt sexual signals
(d) flirtation
6. Women more often than men reported using ______________ as a means of eliciting special treatment
(a) smiling and flirtation
(b) work ethic
(c) pushiness
(d) sexual harassment
7. Buss found that _________ percent of college men indicated that they have exaggerated the depth of
their feelings for a woman to have sex with her, and that _______ percent of college women reported
(a) 71; 15
(b) 37; 15
(c) 37; 97
(d) 71; 25
8. Because of ________________, there must have been tremendous selection pressures for
(a) the benefits of strategic interference; psychological mechanisms designed to detect cues of
deceitfulness
(b) the costs of being deceived; psychological mechanisms designed to detect cues of
deceitfulness
(c) the benefits of cuckoldry by females; deterring males from engaging in extra-pair
relationships
(d) the costs associated with sexual conflicts; avoidance of sexual conflicts
(a) imposing courtship costs to buy time for mate assessment
(b) discussing a man’s commitment with her friends
(c) stalking
(d) both (a) and (b)
10. Error management theory suggests that there are ________ potential errors when inferring a
(a) never
(b) two
(c) ten
(d) fifty
(a) minimize the costs of missed sexual opportunities
(b) maximize the benefits of missed sexual opportunities
(c) deter women from seeking sexual intercourse from a rival male
(d) encourage women to seek sexual intercourse with a male
(a) maximize the benefits of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
(b) minimize the costs of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
(c) reduce men’s attempts at deception
(d) increase the psychological arms race between commitment skepticism in women and
commitment signaling in men
13. Men who are motivated to seek casual sex (compared to men who are not) __________ attempt to
(a) do not
(b) rarely
(c) more frequently
(d) less frequently
(a) increase the scarcity of the resource
(b) force men to think of a woman as a permanent rather than temporary mate
(c) manipulate the woman’s perceived mate value
(d) all of the above
(a) young; married
(b) young; physically attractive
(c) older; physically attractive
(d) older; single
16. When asked how they would feel if a coworker of the opposite sex asked them to have sex, men and
(a) indicated that they would be equally insulted
(b) indicated that they would be equally flattered
(c) differed; more women indicated that they would be insulted
(d) differed; more men indicated that they would be insulted
(a) her marital status
(b) his marital status
(c) the social status of the harasser
(d) the likelihood of successful cuckoldry of her long-term partner
18. Buss found that _____________ was listed by women as the most upsetting action that men do to
(a) sexual aggression
(b) verbal aggression
(c) physical aggression
(d) denigration of her fidelity
(a) increased sperm counts in rape ejaculates as compared to consensual sex ejaculates
(b) sexual arousal to signs of female resistance to consensual sex
(c) marital rape in the context of sperm competition
(d) sexual dimorphism
(a) male preference for sexual variety
(b) desire for sex without commitment
(c) general capacity to use physical aggression to achieve goals
(d) all of the above
(a) show equal levels of physiological sexual arousal to rape scenes
(b) have less varied sexual experiences
(c) have an earlier onset of sexual activity
(d) engage in less criminal activity
(a) psychopathy and hostile masculinity
(b) childhood sexual abuse and impersonal sex
(c) psychopathy and childhood sexual abuse
(d) impersonal sex and hostile masculinity
(a) men who have experienced sexual deprivation will be more likely to use sexually aggressive
tactics
(b) men who have not experienced sexual deprivation will be more likely to use sexually
aggressive tactics
(c) mates deprived of sexual intercourse will be more likely to pursue sexual relationships with
other individuals
(d) none of the above
24. Contrary to predictions made, men who scored _____________ on self-perceived mating success
(a) high; moderately
(b) low; high
(c) high; high
(d) moderately; low
(a) risk of being abandoned by a regular mate
(b) unwanted pregnancy
(c) interference with women’s mate choice mechanisms
(d) all of the above
26. Women ______________have evolved anti-rape defenses if rape had been entirely a byproduct of
(a) could not
(b) could
(c) would definitely
(d) none of the above
27. Which of the following defenses would NOT have evolved in women to combat the likelihood of rape
(a) alliances with other males
(b) cultivation of female-female coalitions
(c) avoidance of risky activities during ovulation
(d) acquiescence mechanisms
(a) positively
(b) negatively
(c) not
(d) none of the above
(a) Physically unattractive; physically attractive
(b) Married; single
(c) Younger; older
(d) Highly intelligent; less intelligent
30. Women’s sexual withholding from a prospective mate serves all of the following functions EXCEPT
(a) encouraging men to evaluate them as long-term mates, rather than as short-term mates
(b) preserving the ability to choose men who are willing to commit to them
(c) manipulating men’s perception of her mate value
(d) deterring men from pursuing a relationship with another woman
31. Men are more upset than women by a partner’s ________________ infidelity; women are more upset
(a) sexual; emotional
(b) secret; public
(c) public; secret
(d) emotional; sexual
32. Men are more likely to use ____________ as a mate retention tactic and women are more likely to use
(a) appearance enhancement; resource display
(b) resource display; appearance enhancement
(c) vigilance; violence
(d) jealousy induction; emotional manipulation
(a) partner concealment
(b) possessive ornamentation
(c) emotional manipulation
(d) all of the above
34. Men, particularly those _________________, tend to increase their mate-guarding behaviors when
(a) low on good genes indicators
(b) high on good genes indicators
(c) with high incomes
(d) with low incomes
(a) violence toward their partner
(b) appearance enhancement
(c) both (a) and (b)
(d) neither (a) nor (b)
(a) a man who is higher in mate value than his partner
(b) a man who recently lost his job
(c) a man whose wife is postmenopausal
(d) a man whose wife is happy in their relationship
(a) increased women’s reproductive success at the expense of men’s
(b) increased men’s reproductive success at the expense of women’s
(c) resulted in resource equality
(d) coevolved
38. Some feminist writers have claimed that all men are united in attempting to keep women submissive
(a) men and women compete primarily with members of their own sex
(b) men and women compete primarily with individual members of the opposite sex
(c) there are no resources for which men and women compete against one another
(d) selection cannot shape sex-specific psychological mechanisms
39. Why would men who are oriented more toward short-term mating show a greater sexual
(a) Because false alarms are more costly for short-term oriented men than long-term oriented men.
(b) Because men oriented more toward long-term mating are relatively less sexually interested in
women.
(c) Because the sexual overperception bias minimizes the costs associated with misses.
(d) Because the sexual overperception bias minimizes the costs associated with false alarms.
40. How do power and status interact to predict women’s level of upset about an incident of sexual
(a) Women are more upset if the harassment comes from a low-status man in a position of power.
(b) Women are more upset if the harassment comes from a high-status man in a position of power.
(c) Women are more upset if the harassment comes from a low-status man over whom the victim has
power.
(d) Women are more upset if the harassment comes from a high-status man over whom the victim has
power.
41. What percent of men indicated that they would force sex on a woman against her will if there was no
(a) 0 percent
(b) 5 percent
(c) 20 percent
(d) 35 percent
42. Which trait has been hypothesized to allow certain men with rape proclivities to avoid feeling
(a) low intelligence
(b) hostile masculinity
(c) unrestricted sociosexuality
(d) low conscientiousness
(a) a subset of men pursue a fast life history strategy that includes sexual aggression in addition to
other antisocial tendencies
(b) nearly all men have some tendency to rape
(c) men who pursue a slow life history strategy engage in more long-term sexual aggression
(d) rapists show similarly low levels of sexual arousal to rape depictions, but self-report higher
subjective arousal
44. Some evolutionary psychologists have hypothesized that men would be most likely to rape their own
(a) in polygamous societies
(b) when there are cues to sperm competition
(c) in matrilineal societies
(d) none of the above
45. Men who are _______ in mate value than their partner exhibit __________ correlation between
(a) lower; a positive
(b) lower; a negative
(c) higher; a positive
(d) higher; a negative
46. Researchers have documented four main categories of defenses women report using to prevent sexual
(a) avoiding being alone
(b) avoiding appearing sexually receptive
(c) avoiding strange or dangerous men
(d) being prepared and aware of surroundings
47. Men’s jealousy is especially attuned to ________________ rivals and women’s jealousy is especially
(a) sexually aggressive; high-status
(b) low-status; physically dominant
(c) physically dominant; young
(d) high-status; physically attractive
48. Tall men are __________ likely to use mate-retention tactics and when they do they prefer
(a) less; benefit-bestowing
(b) more; benefit-bestowing
(c) less; cost-inflicting
(d) more; cost-inflicting
(a) ostracizing
(b) intimidating
(c) benefit-bestowing
(d) all of the above
(a) low mate value of the man
(b) Machiavellianism traits of the man
(c) narcissism of the man
(d) all of the above
(a) men who devote less time and energy to mate retention are more likely to use physical violence
against their partners than men who engage in more mate retention
(b) a man’s perception of his partner’s interest in other men is more predictive of violence than his
partner’s actual interest in other men
(c) men who use emotional manipulation as a mate retention strategy are less likely to be violent
toward their partners
(d) men who are more oriented toward long-term mating are more likely to use violence as a mate
retention strategy than men more oriented toward short-term mating