polygyny

1. among nonhuman animals, a mating system in which a male mates with more than one female but a female mates with only one male. See also harem; resource defense polygyny.

2. marriage of a man to more than one wife at the same time, which is an accepted custom in certain cultures. Compare monogamy; polyandry; polygamy; polygynandry. —polygynous adj.

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Psychology term of the day

February 25th 2025

confluence model

a controversial theory that intelligence of siblings is correlated with family size. According to this model, average intelligence generally declines as the number of children in a family increases. Intelligence is also held to decline with birth order. The one exception is an only child, whose intelligence suffers because he or she does not have an older sibling to serve as a teacher. However, many variables (e.g., spacing of children) could affect and reverse such generalizations. [proposed in 1975 by Robert B. Zajonc and Greg Markus]