Human third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Robert Caton ◽  
Barnaby Dixson
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Contest Competition ◽  
Contest Theory ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Holding Power ◽  
Animal Contest ◽  
Resource Holding Power ◽  
Unique Path

Sexual selection via male-male contest competition has shaped the evolution of agonistic displays, weaponry, and fighting styles, and is further argued to have shaped human psychological mechanisms to detect, process, and respond appropriately to cues of fighting ability. Drawing on the largest fight-specific dataset to date across the sports and biological sciences (N = 2,765), we examined how different indicators of fighting ability in humans reflect unique paths to victory and indicate different forms of perceived and actual resource-holding power (RHP). Overall, we discovered that: (1) both striking skill and vigour, and grappling skill and vigour, individually and collectively predict RHP; (2) different RHP indicators are distinguished by a unique path to victory (e.g., striking skill is a knockout-typical strategy, whereas grappling vigour is a submission-typical strategy); and (3) third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory. Our argument that different measures of RHP are associated with unique paths to victory, and third-party observers accurately track fighting vigour and skill along their unique paths to victory, advance our understanding not only of human contest competition, but animal contest theory more broadly.

scholarly journals Impact Protection Potential of Mammalian Hair: Testing the Pugilism Hypothesis for the Evolution of Human Facial Hair

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Beseris ◽  
S E Naleway ◽  
D R Carrier
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Epoxy Composite ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Ovis Aries ◽  
Domestic Sheep ◽  
Contest Competition ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Facial Skeleton ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Facial Hair

Abstract Because facial hair is one of the most sexually dimorphic features of humans (Homo sapiens) and is often perceived as an indicator of masculinity and social dominance, human facial hair has been suggested to play a role in male contest competition. Some authors have proposed that the beard may function similar to the long hair of a lion’s mane, serving to protect vital areas like the throat and jaw from lethal attacks. This is consistent with the observation that the mandible, which is superficially covered by the beard, is one of the most commonly fractured facial bones in interpersonal violence. We hypothesized that beards protect the skin and bones of the face when human males fight by absorbing and dispersing the energy of a blunt impact. We tested this hypothesis by measuring impact force and energy absorbed by a fiber epoxy composite, which served as a bone analog, when it was covered with skin that had thick hair (referred to here as “furred”) versus skin with no hair (referred to here as “sheared” and “plucked”). We covered the epoxy composite with segments of skin dissected from domestic sheep (Ovis aries), and used a drop weight impact tester affixed with a load cell to collect force versus time data. Tissue samples were prepared in three conditions: furred (n = 20), plucked (n = 20), and sheared (n = 20). We found that fully furred samples were capable of absorbing more energy than plucked and sheared samples. For example, peak force was 16% greater and total energy absorbed was 37% greater in the furred compared to the plucked samples. These differences were due in part to a longer time frame of force delivery in the furred samples. These data support the hypothesis that human beards protect vulnerable regions of the facial skeleton from damaging strikes.

scholarly journals Causes, mechanisms, and consequences of contest competition among female mountain gorillas in Rwanda

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 766-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril C. Grueter ◽  
Andrew M. Robbins ◽  
Didier Abavandimwe ◽  
Veronica Vecellio ◽  
Felix Ndagijimana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contest Competition ◽  
Mountain Gorillas

Scramble-like contest competition in Callosobruchus analis (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Mano ◽  
Yukihiko Toquenaga ◽  
Koichi Fujii
Keyword(s):  
Contest Competition ◽  
Callosobruchus Analis

scholarly journals THE COSTS OF CHANGING SEX AND THE ONTOGENY OF MALES UNDER CONTEST COMPETITION FOR MATES

Evolution ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 915-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Hoffman ◽  
Mark P. Schildhauer ◽  
Robert R. Warner
Keyword(s):  
Contest Competition

Contest competition inDrosophila subobscura

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. Jones ◽  
Å. Langefors ◽  
M. B. Bonsall ◽  
M. P. Hassell
Keyword(s):  
Contest Competition

scholarly journals Mating strategies and aggressive combat in wingless neotropical fig wasp males

2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira ◽  
Angelo Pires do Prado
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Encounter Rate ◽  
Contest Competition ◽  
Fig Wasp ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Wasp Species ◽  
Competition Theory ◽  
Pollinator Species

The aim of this work was to study the wingless males of pollinating (Pegoscapus tonduzi) and two nonpollinating fig wasp species, genus Idarnes, associated with figs (Ficus citrifolia) in Brazil to answer the following questions: 1) Do wingless males of Idarnes spp. and P. tonduzi show different male-male competition strategies?; and, 2) Do the injury within-species variables correlate with fig/population features? Consistently higher injury levels were observed in the two species of Idarnes than in the pollinator species. The results suggested that aggressive confrontations were involved in the mating strategies of Idarnes, whereas non-aggressive strategies were shown by males of P. tonduzi. Generally, injury variables in Idarnes spp. correlated positively with the male encounter rate and negatively with the fig size, thus supporting the contest competition theory. The results pointed out that different species under similar local conditions might follow distinct evolutionary histories. Within species, natural-history particularities might have some influence upon quantified injury levels in wingless males.

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