American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
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Recent research suggests that evolutionary selection pressures have shaped mental mechanisms to be able to assess one's own and other's physical strength, fighting ability, and aggressiveness. According to the recalibrational theory, anger may be linked to fighting ability and serve as a bargaining mechanism to improve welfare obtained in social conflict. We hypothesized that late adolescent men (but not mid-adolescent men or women) use this mechanism, as it would be particularly adaptive for them to avoid potential costs from direct conflict in male competition. ⋯ With reference to the recalibrational theory of anger, our results suggest that the sex- and age-dependent associations between fighting ability and physical and nonphysical aggression indicate divergent adaptive skills between sexes, which are driven by intrasexual competition.