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Staying alive includes adaptations for catalyzing cooperation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2022

Alessandra Cassar Open the ORCID record for Alessandra Cassar [Opens in a new window]
Alessandra Cassar*
Affiliation:
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA acassar@usfca.eduhttp://www.alessandracassar.net Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Abstract

The target article interprets women's lower competitiveness than men's as evidence of adaptation to help women avoid physical conflicts and stay alive. This commentary advances the additional hypothesis that strategically suppressing competitiveness, thus signaling egalitarian intentions, could be an adaptation to catalyze cooperative behavior from males and females, turning natural competitors (other women) into allies and men into supportive partners.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e133
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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