Question for the guys...

I know there must be many complex reasons, and causes etc. but I am really curious to hear some explanations of why men are so competitive with each other?

Even in situations where there is not a resource shortage, or any obvious reason for guys to be so competitive, why does it still happen? :idontknow:

I did not have a present father or any brothers, so there are no men currently in my life to ask.


(Now I know girls are just as competitive with each other, I know that, and already have a full understanding of why they do it)


Thanks in advance for any replies. :)
 

DeadmanWalking

Well-known member
The reasons are as numerous as the starts in the sky:bigsmile:!

Some do it from thrills, some do it for the lols, some do it for honor and fame, some do it to impress a woman, and some do it to just to be a ****. I guess it all depends on the type of competition. Two guys competing in a video game is very different from two guys competing for a woman.

It's fun to have rivals. Even I can get competitive at times:giggle:.
 

theoutsider

Well-known member
It comes down to hierarchy/ranking. It's a primitive urge to see who's at or closer to the top of the chain. Many guys want to be the lead or at least ahead of the guy they're competing with. This is often disguised as play but, almost always, there's a meaning behind it. Even when a man doesn't want to be a part of the competitiveness, it's hard to escape. I'm probably one of the most non-competitive guys you'll ever meet, I prefer to do my own thing and let others do theirs. Ranking doesn't matter to me. I guess if I were a wolf, I'd be a lone one. Still, I can't tell you how many times I've found myself swept up in some kind of competitive battle because some other guy wanted to test my mettle. I've worked around guys who I paid absolutely no attention to come out of the blue to let me know how they did something better than I did or better than I could. Unwillingness to participate is sometimes mistaken for surrender or aloofness so it makes it that much more difficult not to respond. So, there's my .02 worth. The competitiveness has a lot to do with our primal urge to be the top dog.
 
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PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
You see it in all species, and we as a species are no different. Now, some will tell you it's because they like to show off, be flashy to get the girls etc etc..
But the nuts and bolts of it Blue, is it's woven into our DNA.

We are not just PART of nature, we ARE nature. And yes.. it's all to do with ensuring we make the babies with the best chance of continuing the line and existence of our species.


Now on a more personal level, I LOVE to compete. From boxing, to running, bicycle races, arm wrestling, checkers & chess, fighting in the school yard, occasionally fighting with your mates growing up (and I don't mean bit'ching, I mean punching each others lights out lol), it's just natural for most males to compete.

It can be somewhat difficult to try and explain to the fairer sex, why we act the way we do at times.

I guess in laymen's terms, it's like looking at a horse in a field and asking 'I wonder why it's acting like a horse?'.
It's the way we have evolved :)


Great question by the way
 
So many replies so soon, Thank you! :thumbup:

You have definitely helped me to understand it better - with all of you providing a common thread of thought, throughout your replies.

"it's human nature"
"our primal urge to be the top dog"
"it's woven into our DNA"

OK, so it is just your natural, instinctual state then, hmm :thinking:

That does help in understanding now that the urge to compete must be mostly inbred, there from the day you are born, and less likely caused by society itself.

To what degree do you think that society influences the perpetuation and magnification of competitive behaviour for men though?
Do you think that is a good thing, because then you are free to behave that way, or do you think it places too much of an expectation on men?
 

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
So many replies so soon, Thank you! :thumbup:

You have definitely helped me to understand it better - with all of you providing a common thread of thought, throughout your replies.

"it's human nature"
"our primal urge to be the top dog"
"it's woven into our DNA"

OK, so it is just your natural, instinctual state then, hmm :thinking:

That does help in understanding now that the urge to compete must be mostly inbred, there from the day you are born, and less likely caused by society itself.

To what degree do you think that society influences the perpetuation and magnification of competitive behavior for men though?
Do you think that is a good thing, because then you are free to behave that way, or do you think it places too much of an expectation on men?

I don't think males actually conform to a 'set standard'.

Rather these days, I think we have a set standard where men are portrayed a bumbling fools, incapable of thinking for themselves. Just look at TV advertisements for example. If you actually notice the roles the genders are portrayed as, you'll notice males are now always portrayed as exactly that. Bumbling fools.


I think males still conform to nature's call. We are still the lead force.. still willing to put ourselves at risk for the greater good. Still at the leading edge combat wise(just look at military combat for example) ... I mean, why do we have separate gender sports?
If women could compete PHYSICALLY with males and in a combat sense, why do we separate sports?


I dont mean to cause any offence to women. Women have been just as influential to our advance as a species as any man. That much is indisputable.

My point is, males have an innate, inbuilt means to put themselves at risk for the preservation of their gene pool, which in turn means our species.

At the end of the day, we still have the hunter gatherer genes within us. yes?
 
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Kiwong

Well-known member
At a primal level it is about competing for resources and for a mate so that genes can be replicated. Humans are the most viciously territorial species on the planet.

Why does it still happen? Why does the flight or fight still happen? Those cave man genes are strong.
 

kuurt

Well-known member
I'm not the least bit competitive - never have been. So I don't think all of us guys are like that. I assume it is an ego thing, that guys want to outdo other guys to make themselves feel better. I think I'm just considerate of others and have no need to make them look bad or feel less. If I'm playing a game, it really doesn't matter to me if I win or not.
 

planetweirdo

Well-known member
As a man that's not very competitive I often wonder why men are so competitive myself. I believe it's because a lot of men gain a sense of pride from feeling like they are better at things then other men (and women). I think that Western Society (as well as most societies) promote the idea of a "pecking order" which divides men up into such classes as "alpha male","beta male" and "omega male" etc. Men generally try hard to avoid being placed at the bottom of the order, which would lead to him being shamed, or told that hes not a "real men". Men who successfully climb to the top of the order wins societies respect, which generates feelings of confidence and empowerment.
The old "men act", "women are" dichotomy is also still very prevalent in our society. Man are valued insomuch as to how well he can preform and achieve, Thus some men are driven to out preform other men in order to earn achievement points to add to his own self value score. This kind of mentality taking to an extreme leads some men to believe that their own lives are literally more valuable then the lives of people that are less "successful" then themselves.
 
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