Revisiting judgment of strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation tactics

Abstract

Competition for mates is a primary social psychological conflict. One may acquire a mate by promoting oneself by highlighting features that the opposite sex has evolved to desire in mates. One may also attack competitors, in an attempt to reduce their perceived mate value. The effectiveness judgment of 24 separate self-promotion and competitor derogation tactics were studied in two samples of Norwegian undergraduates ( n = 270 and n = 350) using a Sex of Actor by Mating Context (short-term and long-term) factorial design. Analyses of covariates (controlling for sociosexuality, sex of participant, and relationship status) replicate the original findings of Schmitt and Buss ((1996) Strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation: Sex and context effects on the perceived effectiveness of mate attraction tactics, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1185–1204) in one of the world’s most gender-egalitarian culture. This suggests that sexual strategies theory predicts mate acquisition behavior cross-culturally.