Intrasexual competition between women is often covert, and targets rivals' appearance. Here we investigate appearance advice as a vector for
Highlights
Women use competitor manipulation as a form of intrasexual competition.
Highly competitive women advised hypothetical salon clients to cut off more hair.
Women told clients of similar attractiveness as themselves to cut off the most hair.
Female intrasexual competition may be assortative with respect to mate quality.
Female intrasexual competition manifests without any contextual cues to mating.
Abstract
Intrasexual competition between women is often covert, and targets rivals' appearance. Here we investigate appearance advice as a vector for female intrasexual competition. Across two studies (N = 192, N = 258) women indicated how much hair they would recommend hypothetical clients have cut off in their hypothetical salon. Clients varied in their facial attractiveness (depicted pictorially), the condition of their hair, and how much hair they wished to have cut off. Participants also provided self-report measures of their own mate value and intrasexual competitiveness. In both studies, participants' intrasexual competitiveness positively predicted how much hair they recommended clients have cut off, especially when the hair was in good condition and the clients reported wanting as little as possible cut off – circumstances wherein cutting off too much hair is most likely to indicate sabotage. Considering data across both collectively, women tended to recommend cutting the most hair off clients they perceived to be as attractive as themselves. These data suggest that just like mating, intrasexual competition may be assortative with respect to mate value. They also demonstrate that competitive motives can impact female-female interactions even in scenarios which feature no prospective mates, and are nominally unrelated to mate guarding or mating competition.
