A Theoretical Proposal for Examining the Integration of Cooperative and Competitive Mothering Behavior

Over the course of evolutionary history, women have faced situations where they presumably have needed to both compete and cooperate with the same group of kin and non-kin individuals for the purposes of advancing reproductive success. Here we focus exclusively on mothers, and explore some of the advantages of cooperating with other mothers (as well as other individuals) versus competing with other mothers (and others). There has been noteworthy attention paid towards cooperative mothering behavior, but competitive mothering behavior has been relatively neglected. Therefore, our goal is to provide a review of the ways in which both types of behavior enhance a mother’s reproductive success, and ultimately, show that the most beneficial strategy is integrate both cooperative and competitive behavior.