Pilot study of relationship between fertility risk and bargaining.
Competition for resources to support a healthy pregnancy and later offspring was likely very important for ancestral women. Therefore, it was predicted that women evolved a propensity for intrasexual competition over resources during times of their highest conception risk. To investigate this hypothesis, women played a series of ultimatum games, bargaining games that test participants' willingness to share a monetary stake. During periods of high conception risk, intrasexual competition increased as evidenced by lower offers to share a stake with others as well as higher rates of rejection of offers.
Lucas
Margery M
MM
Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA. mlucas@wellesley.edu
Koff
Elissa
E
Skeath
Susan
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012919:Social Behavior; D012928:Social Desirability; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires