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Updated: May 2, 2026

The Resident-intruder Paradigm: A Standardized Test for Aggression, Violence and Social Stress
Published on: July 4, 2013
Too many men: the violence problem?
Ryan Schacht1, Kristin Liv Rauch1, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder2
1Department of Anthropology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Abstract:
There is a strong intuitive expectation in both popular lore and conventional evolutionary thinking that more males lead to more violence. Here, we untangle the logic behind this widely held notion with a specific focus on humans. We first review the relation between the intensity of sexual selection in human populations and the adult sex ratio (ASR), and find that it is more in line with recent reformulations of sexual selection theory than with conventional models. We then turn directly to the patterning of violence across human societies in relation to the sex ratio. Although the 'more men, more violence' expectation is not met, it is clear that the patterning of violence is undertheorized and we offer recommendations for steps forward.
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