A new study suggests that women perceive other women as formidable romantic rivals based on a combination of two distinct factors: their apparent willingness to compete for men and their physical ability to attract them. The research, published in the journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, provides a new framework for understanding the complex social calculations women make when assessing competitors and potential friends.
Scientists have long recognized that women actively compete with one another to attract desirable partners. This competition can have significant social consequences, affecting friendships, romantic relationships, and even mental health. Research led by Laureon A. Merrie aimed to create a clearer model of this dynamic by asking a fundamental question: what specific characteristics cause one woman to see another as a threatening rival?
The team proposed that the perception of threat could be broken down into two components. The first is a rival’s competitive intent, or her willingness to compete, which might be signaled by behaviors like flirting. The second is her competitive capacity, or her ability to succeed, which is often signaled by physical attractiveness.
To test this model, the researchers conducted three separate experiments involving a total of 1,169 heterosexual female university students in the United States. In the first experiment, participants read a short story where they imagined being single at a wedding and interested in a man named Jacob. They then encountered an acquaintance named Zoe.
The story varied in its description of Zoe’s behavior and appearance. In some versions, Zoe showed high competitive intent by actively flirting with Jacob. In other versions, she showed low competitive intent by directing the same flirty behaviors toward her own long-term boyfriend. Separately, Zoe was described as either highly physically attractive (high competitive capacity) or not very attractive (low competitive capacity).
The results showed that both components independently contributed to how threatening Zoe appeared. Women who were described as actively competing for Jacob were seen as more threatening than those who were not. Likewise, women described as physically attractive were seen as more threatening than those who were not. The woman perceived as the most significant rival of all was the one who was both highly attractive and actively flirting with the desired man.
When it came to social consequences, however, the two factors had different effects. Participants reported they would be most likely to act aggressively toward a woman showing high competitive intent, regardless of her physical attractiveness. In contrast, participants expressed a greater desire to befriend a woman who was physically attractive.
The second experiment used a different scenario involving a casual party to see if the findings would hold. This study also included conditions where participants received information about only one of the two factors. For example, some participants were told Zoe was highly attractive but were given no information about her behavior. Others were told she was flirting but received no description of her appearance. This design allowed the researchers to see what assumptions women make when information is incomplete.
This experiment confirmed the findings from the first study. Both a woman’s apparent intent to compete and her capacity to do so increased her perceived level of threat. Again, the intent to compete was the primary driver of potential aggression from other women. The new part of this experiment revealed an interesting pattern in participants’ assumptions. When told a woman was physically attractive, participants tended to infer that she also had a high intent to compete for men. The reverse was not true; when participants were told a woman was actively flirting, they did not automatically assume she was physically attractive.
In the third and final experiment, the researchers explored how a woman’s efforts to enhance her appearance affect these perceptions. Participants read about meeting a woman named Zoe at a dinner party. Zoe’s appearance was described in one of three ways: low enhancement (wearing baggy sweats with no makeup), high enhancement with a style suggesting a longer-term dating strategy (a long dress and natural makeup), or high enhancement with a style suggesting a shorter-term dating strategy (a short dress and red lipstick). This study also included male participants, who rated their own attraction to the woman in each description.
The findings showed that women who enhanced their appearance were perceived as having both greater intent to compete and greater capacity to compete compared to the woman who did not. Consequently, they were also seen as more threatening rivals. The style of enhancement also mattered for social outcomes. Female participants reported a greater willingness to be friends with the woman whose appearance suggested a longer-term dating strategy compared to the one whose style suggested a shorter-term strategy. The study also found that women’s perceptions of threat were in line with men’s ratings of attraction. The versions of Zoe that women found most threatening were the same ones that male participants rated as most sexually and romantically appealing.
The research has some limitations. The studies relied on participants from a specific group, young university students in the United States, so the findings may not apply to women of different ages or in different cultures. The use of written scenarios may not fully capture the complexities of real-life social interactions. The researchers also note that in the first two experiments, the woman who was low in competitive intent was also in a committed relationship, which itself could have made her seem like a more appealing friend for reasons unrelated to competition.
Future research could explore these dynamics in different populations and cultural contexts. Scientists could also investigate the cues that signal competitive intent for longer-term relationships, as the scenarios in this study focused more on immediate attraction. The researchers suggest that the core components of competitive intent and capacity are likely universal in assessing rivals, but the specific behaviors and features that signal them may vary. This work helps to explain how women navigate a complex social world, weighing the potential risks of a formidable rival against the potential benefits of a powerful friend.
The study, “Who is a Mating Rival? Women Track Other Women’s Intent and Capacity to Compete for Mates,” was authored by Laureon A. Merrie, Jaimie Arona Krems, and Jennifer Byrd-Craven.