Psychophysical Measurements During the Priming of Intrasexual Competition

Priming has become a common method for studying intrasexual competition, with various methods, such as vignettes and unbalanced sex ratios used in the literature. However, there have been few independent measures of the effectiveness of this priming, all of which rely on conscious responding. Here, we investigate the ability of one intrasexual competition prime, vignettes that imply an individual is attempting to infiltrate an ongoing relationship, to generate arousal. Participants read four vignettes while four psychophysical measurements of arousal were assessed, left and right pupil dilation, heart rate, and electrodermal activity. Results indicated that while reading the vignettes and reflecting on them, three of the measures, both right and left pupil dilation and heart rate, did in fact increase, indicating arousal. We argue that this arousal may be due to one of two underlying emotional states: jealousy related to intrasexual competition or anxiety associated with the anticipation of the competition itself. Public Significance StatementVignettes designed to induce a state of intrasexual competition have become usedmore commonly. Here, we show that one specific set of vignettes does cause signifi-cant arousal based on psychophysical measurements. This provides an independentverification of their usefulness for study