Theory-Driven Assessment of Intrasexual Rivalry

Abstract

Assessment of intrasexual competition has largely relied on Intrasexual Competition Scale (ICS; Buunk & Fisher Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 7:37–48, 2009). Based on recent developments in mating psychology and the notion that humans use multiple tactics to compete with same-sex individuals, we propose a new theory-driven assessment strategy for intrasexual rivalry in men and women. Here, we develop and initially validate the 16-item Intrasexual Rivalry Scale (IRS). Eight items represented self-promoting tactics in four mating areas and eight items represented rival-derogatory tactics in the same mating areas. We pre-registered our study design and statistical strategy and recruited a community sample in a non-Western culture, Iran. Consistent with our theoretical expectation, exploratory factor analysis (N = 211) clearly suggested extraction of two distinct factors (self-promotion and rival-derogation). Results suggested that scores on the ICS are strongly correlated with rival-derogation, but only weakly associated with self-promotion. Findings are explained in the light of evolutionary psychological perspective and future directions with the newly developed scale are outlined.