Possible Influence of Psychological Distance to Women's Intrasexual Mating Competition

Researchers have studied intrasexual competition by priming competition using a variety of techniques including manipulated sex ratios and vignettes implying a competition either for resources critical for obtaining mates or directly for mates themselves. When priming intrasexual competition, changes in the dependent variable of interest are generally taken as evidence of intrasexual competition; few researchers have tried to independently assess intrasexual competition. The studies presented replicate and extend one such state measure of intrasexual competition using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-Short Form) with additional competition words. The first study used a vignette manipulation and the second used a sex ratio manipulation. Participants responded to the modified PANAS, the Intrasexual Competition Scale (ICS), and the Intrasexual Rivalry Scale (IRS). Results indicated that neither manipulation resulted in effects on the ICS or IRS. There were differences on the negative and competitive subscales of the modified PANAS, but only for the vignette manipulation; sex ratio did not result in effects on any of the subscales. These results suggest that different intrasexual competition primes may not be accessible by a single measure. One explanation may be that the vignettes specify a target while the unbalanced sex ratios do not, which could create a difference in the psychological distance to a target. Studies in nonhuman animals have shown that distance and time to reinforcement affect the types of responses and conditioned responses that the reinforcer can support (e.g., behavior systems, Timberlake & Lucas, 1989), which we apply to this work.