Threatening Men's Mate Value Influences Aggression Toward an Intrasexual Rival: The Moderating Role of Narcissism

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

Men with distinct facial hair are perceived as more aggressive, dominant, older, and more formidable, mostly by other men. However, despite considerable interest in the social perception of beardedness, only a few studies have explored men's preferences toward facial hair. We investigated men's preferences toward facial hair and whether their judgments of facial hair appropriateness in social situations depended on their actual beardedness and the type of social interaction (N = 509; age: M = 29.35, SD = 7.24). Men preferred having more facial hair, particularly when they have a heavy stubble or a full beard. Men preferred more facial hair for themselves compared to other men, suggesting that men's preferences for facial hair could be based on the frequency-dependent value of a display, namely more value assigned to rarer attributes. Men's judgments of the appropriateness of facial hair were sensitive to social situations for displaying facial hair as well. More facial hair was considered more appropriate for informal situations, especially with another man. Social norms associated with formal interaction could, therefore, limit the impression management functions of beards in intrasexual competition.

Sex Differences in Response to Deception Across Mate-Value Traits of Attractiveness, Job Status, and Altruism in Online Dating

Sex differences in mate preferences are well established. It is also well understood that humans often seek to manipulate their standing on important mate-value traits. Yet, there is a paucity of work examining potential sex differences in response to deception along these important dimensions. In Study 1, a sample of 280 undergraduates (123 females) responded to a hypothetical online dating scenario asking participants to rank how upset they would be if deceived about a date's attractiveness, occupation, or volunteerism. Women ranked occupation deception as more upsetting than men did, and men ranked attractiveness deception as more upsetting than women did. Given potential measurement differences between forced-choice and continuous response options, Study 2 randomly assigned 364 undergraduates (188 females) to one of the deceptions conditions and asked them to report their level of upset and willingness to go on the date using a continuous response scale. Women were more likely than men to cancel the date if the deception involved volunteerism or occupation. There was no significant sex difference in the attractiveness condition. Neither mate value nor sociosexuality moderated the sex difference in the levels of upset due to the deception. Together, these findings demonstrate that women and men exhibit differences in the degree to which they become upset by opposite sex deceptions in online dating, regardless of self-perceived mate value and sociosexuality, in alignment with evolved sex differences in mate preferences.

Men's Mate Value Correlates with a Less Restricted Sociosexual Orientation: A Meta-Analysis

Men, relative to women, can benefit their total reproductive success by engaging in short-term pluralistic mating. Yet not all men enact such a mating strategy. It has previously been hypothesized that high mate value men should be most likely to adopt a short-term mating strategy, with this prediction being firmly grounded in some important mid-level evolutionary psychological theories. Yet evidence to support such a link has been mixed. This paper presents a comprehensive meta-analysis of 33 published and unpublished studies (N = 5928) in which we find that that self-reported mate value accounts for roughly 6% of variance in men's sociosexual orientation. The meta-analysis provides evidence that men's self-perceived mate value positively predicts their tendency to engage in short-term mating, but that the total effect size is small.

Will they stay or will they go? Narcissistic admiration and rivalry predict ingroup affiliation and devaluation

OBJECTIVE

Using the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept (NARC) as a guiding framework, the current research examines how ingroup affiliation and devaluation are connected to the self-enhancing and self-threatening properties of ingroups for narcissists.

METHOD

Participants (N = 374) completed a group decision-making task and received feedback that factorially manipulated both individual and group performance. Across the four combinations of performance feedback, we examined the conditional effects of narcissistic admiration and rivalry on social identity, perceptions of group member ability, desire to abandon the group, and desire to expel group members.

RESULTS

Narcissistic admiration predicted higher levels of social identity in response to ingroup success, regardless of individual performance. In contrast, narcissistic rivalry predicted more negative views of group ability, as well as a higher desire to abandon the group and expel group members in response to individual success combined with ingroup failure.

CONCLUSION

The results document and provide insight into narcissists' fickle attachment to ingroups. They provide evidence of the utility of the NARC in group contexts. Our findings suggest that narcissistic admiration is linked to self-enhancing group affiliation, whereas narcissistic rivalry is related to self-protective group distancing and devaluation.

Tandem Androgenic and Psychological Shifts in Male Reproductive Effort Following a Manipulated "Win" or "Loss" in a Sporting Competition

Male-male competition is involved in inter- and intrasexual selection, with both endocrine and psychological factors presumably contributing to reproductive success in human males. We examined relationships among men's naturally occurring testosterone, their self-perceived mate value (SPMV), self-esteem, sociosexuality, and expected likelihood of approaching attractive women versus situations leading to child involvement. We then monitored changes in these measures in male rowers (N = 38) from Cambridge, UK, following a manipulated "win" or "loss" as a result of an indoor rowing contest. Baseline results revealed that men with heightened testosterone and SPMV values typically had greater inclinations toward engaging in casual sexual relationships and a higher likelihood of approaching attractive women in a hypothetical social situation. As anticipated, both testosterone and SPMV increased following a manipulated "victory" and were associated with heightened sociosexuality, and increased expectations toward approaching attractive women versus individuals who would involve them in interacting with children after the race. SPMV and self-esteem appeared to mediate some of the effects of testosterone on post-race values. These findings are considered in the broader context of individual trade-offs between mating and parental effort and a model of the concurrent and dynamic androgenic and psychological influences contributing to male reproductive effort and success.

Self-Perceived Mate Value, Facial Attractiveness, and Mate Preferences: Do Desirable Men Want It All?

Ten years ago, Buss and Shackelford demonstrated that high mate value (i.e., physically attractive) women held more discerning mate preferences relative to lower mate value women. Since then, researchers have begun to consider the equally important role of men's sexual selectivity in human mate choice. Yet, little research has focused on whether high mate value men are similarly choosy in their mate preferences. In a sample of 139 undergraduate men, relationships between self-perceived mate value as well as female-rated facial attractiveness were examined in relation to men's expressed mate preferences. Results showed that self-perceived mate value was unrelated to men's facial attractiveness as rated by women. Men who believed they were of high mate value were more likely than lower mate value men to prefer to marry at a younger age; to have a spouse who was younger than them; and to have a partner who was sociable, ambitious, high in social status, with good financial prospects, a desire for children, health, good looks, and mutual attraction. Objective male facial attractiveness was generally unrelated to heightened mate preferences, with the exception of heightened preference for similar religious background and good physical health. Findings suggest that men who perceive themselves as high in overall mate value are selective in their mate choice in a manner similar to high mate value women.