The social modes of men : Toward an ecological model of human male relationships
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Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making
Published on: March 2, 2011
1Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 270 South 1400 East, Rm 102, 84112-0060, Salt Lake City, UT. rodseth@csbs.utah.edu.
Abstract:
Here we attempt to define a specifically human ecology within which male reproductive strategies are formulated. By treating the domestic and public spheres of social life as "ecological niches" that men have been forced to compete within or to avoid as best they can, we generate a typology of four "social modes" of human male behavior. We then attempt to explain the broad distribution of social modes within and between human groups based on the relative intensity of scramble and contest competition.
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