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"Jealousy and Flirtation" depicts a woman jealous of the attention given to another woman by a man.

Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness and disgust. It is not to be confused with envy.

Jealousy is a familiar experience in human relationships and has been observed in infants five months and older.[1][2][3][4] Some claim that jealousy is seen in every culture;[5][6][7] however, others claim jealousy is a culture-specific phenomenon.[8]

Jealousy is often reinforced as a series of particularly strong emotions and constructed as a universal human experience; it has been a theme of many artistic works that seek to privilege monogamous discourses. Psychologists have proposed several models of the processes underlying jealousy and have identified factors that result in jealousy. Sociologists have demonstrated that cultural beliefs and values play an important role in determining what triggers jealousy and what constitutes socially acceptable expressions of jealousy. Biologists have identified factors that may unconsciously influence the expression of jealousy. Artists have explored the theme of jealousy in photographs, paintings, movies, songs, plays, poems, and books. Theologians have offered religious views of jealousy based on the scriptures of their respective faiths.

Sexual jealousy

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Main article: Sexual jealousy in humans

Sexual jealousy can be defined as a response triggered when a significant other displays sexual interest in another person.

Romantic jealousy

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Romantic jealousy can be expressed in five antecedent factors:

  1. Sociobiological factors
  2. Cultural and historical factors
  3. Personality factors
  4. Relational factors
  5. Situational factors and strategic factors

Sociobiological factors deal with reproductive strategies. For males they can only ensure paternity by restricting the access or involvement of other males. Females are more inclined to find resources in a male to be more important than actual reproductive opportunities. Males used the following tactics more than females: resource display, mate concealment, submission and debasement, intersexual threats, and violence. For cultural and historical factors, males and females have similar states of jealous emotions as sociobiological factors. Personality factors include a third party threat that stores jealousy in both males and females and also vary based on love styles. Relational factors as well as emotional factors have been found to vary on comparison levels of commitment to the relationship as well as investment and the level of alternatives in the relationship. Situational factors, including critical events that may endorse jealousy in both males and females, are very common and can be easily stimulated. Last is strategic factors, which discusses how “individuals are rarely aware of the sociobiological or cultural factors that promote a particular communication behavior”.[9]

Domestic violence

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Jealousy is one cause of domestic violence, with violence often being associated with either suspected infidelity or the woman planning to leave the relationship. In an evolutionary psychology perspective this has been explained as the man trying to control female reproduction and ensure sexual exclusivity for himself through violence or the threat of violence.[10][11]

Different forms

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There are many different types of jealousy that the human body can experience. Jealousy can be seen in everyday activities and settings and is an intense emotion that is associated with the loss of services or outcomes associated with other individuals. This intense emotion can be seen or experienced in family situations, at work, in romantic relationships, and even between friends.[12]

  • Sibling rivalry – Sibling rivalry is a common form of family jealousy. Family jealousy can affect all ages and different members of any family. This jealousy can arise from lack of attention from a specific member in the family. More attention towards another member of the family can cause this emotion or the emotion can be seen through comparison to another member in the family. This type of jealousy is once again a result of losing some sort of attention or services that someone once had or that they believe they had.
  • Workplace jealousy – Jealousy in the work place is not uncommon. People can experience jealousy of one another in practically any setting that one person feels like they are losing services from something or someone else. This type of jealousy is often seen between colleagues in similar job positions. If one worker receives positive feedback from the boss while the other employee feels like they deserved that, positive feedback jealousy can arise. Jealousy between colleagues can also arise if the employees are working for a raise or trying to outdo each other for similar job positions. Once again, the attention received towards one employee and not the other may cause intense emotions of jealousy to develop.
  • Romantic jealousy – Romantic jealousy can be experienced in long-term or short-term relationships. One partner can feel the emotion of jealousy arise if the other partner is paying more attention or time with someone else. To lose services from one partner and have their attention directed towards someone else does not have to be in a romantic way. For instance, one partner could be spending more time with a friend with whom no romantic feelings could ever develop.
  • Platonic jealousy – Platonic jealousy is a form of jealousy that is seen in friendships. Platonic jealousy is similar to romantic jealousy in the way that this type of relationship can lead to jealousy in result of fear of being replaced, having competition, or being compared to a third party. For example, the intense emotion of jealousy can arise if two friends decide that they like the same man and both want to possibly start a romantic relationship with him. Comparison and competition will more often than not lead to the two friends experiencing the emotion of jealousy.

Etymology

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The word stems from the French jalousie, formed from jaloux (jealous), and further from Low Latin zelosus (full of zeal), in turn from the Greek word ζήλος (zēlos), sometimes "jealousy", but more often in a positive sense "emulation, ardour, zeal" [13][14] (with a root connoting "to boil, ferment"; or "yeast").

Since William Shakespeare's use of terms like "green-eyed monster",[15] the color green has been associated with jealousy and envy, from which the expressions "green with envy", are derived.

Theories

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Scientific definitions

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People do not express jealousy through a single emotion or a single behavior.[16][17][18] They instead express jealousy through diverse emotions and behaviors, which makes it difficult to form a scientific definition of jealousy. Scientists still do not have a universally agreed upon definition of jealousy, but instead define jealousy in their own words, as illustrated by the following examples:

  • "Romantic jealousy is here defined as a complex of thoughts, feelings, and actions which follow threats to self-esteem and/or threats to the existence or quality of the relationship, when those threats are generated by the perception of a real or potential attraction between one's partner and a (perhaps imaginary) rival."[19]
  • "Jealousy, then, is any aversive reaction that occurs as the result of a partner's extradyadic relationship that is real, imagined, or considered likely to occur."[20]
  • "Jealousy is conceptualized as a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral response to a relationship threat. In the case of sexual jealousy, this threat emanates from knowing or suspecting that one's partner has had (or desires to have) sexual activity with a third party. In the case of emotional jealousy, an individual feels threatened by her or his partner's emotional involvement with and/or love for a third party."[21]
  • "Jealousy is defined as a protective reaction to a perceived threat to a valued relationship, arising from a situation in which the partner's involvement with an activity and/or another person is contrary to the jealous person's definition of their relationship."[22]
  • "Jealousy is triggered by the threat of separation from, or loss of, a romantic partner, when that threat is attributed to the possibility of the partner's romantic interest in another person."[23]

These definitions of jealousy share two basic themes. First, all the definitions imply a triad composed of a jealous individual, a partner, and a perception of a third party or rival. Second, all the definitions describe jealousy as a reaction to a perceived threat to the relationship between two people, or a dyad. Jealous reactions typically involve aversive emotions and/or behaviors that are assumed to be protective for their attachment relationships. These themes form the essential meaning of jealousy in most scientific studies.

Comparison with envy

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Popular culture uses the word jealousy as a synonym for envy. Many dictionary definitions include a reference to envy or envious feelings. In fact, the overlapping use of jealousy and envy has a long history.

The terms are used indiscriminately in such popular 'feel good' books as Nancy Friday's Jealousy, where the expression 'jealousy' applies to a broad range of passions, from envy to lust and greed. While this kind of usage blurs the boundaries between categories that are intellectually valuable and psychologically justifiable, such confusion is understandable in that historical explorations of the term indicate that these boundaries have long posed problems. Margot Grzywacz's fascinating etymological survey of the word in Romance and Germanic languages[24] asserts, indeed, that the concept was one of those that proved to be the most difficult to express in language and was therefore among the last to find an unambiguous term. Classical Latin used invidia, without strictly differentiating between envy and jealousy. It was not until the postclassical era that Latin borrowed the late and poetic Greek word zelotypia and the associated adjective zelosus. It is from this adjective that are derived French jaloux, Provençal gelos, Italian geloso, and Spanish celoso.[25]

Perhaps the overlapping use of jealousy and envy occurs because people can experience both at the same time. A person may envy the characteristics or possessions of someone who also happens to be a romantic rival.[26] In fact, one may even interpret romantic jealousy as a form of envy.[27] A jealous person may envy the affection that his or her partner gives to a rival — affection the jealous person feels is entitled to himself or herself. People often use the word jealousy as a broad label that applies to both experiences of jealousy and experiences of envy.[28]

Although popular culture often uses jealousy and envy as synonyms, modern philosophers and psychologists have argued for conceptual distinctions between jealousy and envy. For example, philosopher John Rawls[29] distinguishes between jealousy and envy on the ground that jealousy involves the wish to keep what one has, and envy the wish to get what one does not have. Thus, a child is jealous of her parents' attention to a sibling, but envious of her friend's new bicycle. Psychologists Laura Guerrero and Peter Andersen have proposed the same distinction.[30] They claim the jealous person "perceives that he or she possesses a valued relationship, but is in danger of losing it or at least of having it altered in an undesirable manner," whereas the envious person "does not possess a valued commodity, but wishes to possess it." Gerrod Parrott also draws attention to the distinct thoughts and feelings that occur in jealousy and envy.[26][31][32]

The common experience of jealousy for many people may involve:

  • Fear of loss
  • Suspicion of or anger about a perceived betrayal
  • Low self-esteem and sadness over perceived loss
  • Uncertainty and loneliness
  • Fear of losing an important person to another
  • Distrust

The common experience of envy for many people may involve:

  • Feelings of inferiority
  • Longing
  • Resentment of circumstances
  • Ill will towards envied person often accompanied by guilt about these feelings
  • Motivation to improve
  • Desire to possess the attractive rival's qualities
  • Disapproval of feelings

Parrot acknowledges that people can experience envy and jealousy at the same time.[31] Feelings of envy about a rival can even intensify the experience of jealousy.[33] Still, the differences between envy and jealousy in terms of thoughts and feelings justify their distinction in philosophy and science.

In psychology

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Jealousy involves an entire "emotional episode," including a complex “narrative”: the circumstances that lead up to jealousy, jealousy itself as emotion, any attempt at self regulation, subsequent actions and events, and the resolution of the episode.[34] The narrative can originate from experienced facts, thoughts, perceptions, and memories; but also from imagination, guess, and assumptions. The more society and culture matter in the formation of these factors, the more jealousy can have a social and cultural origin. By contrast, Goldie shows how jealousy can be a "cognitively impenetrable state", where education and rational belief matter very little.[35]

One possible explanation of the origin of jealousy in evolutionary psychology is that the emotion evolved in order to maximize the success of our genes: it is a biologically based emotion selected to foster the certainty about the paternity of one's own offspring.[36] A jealous behavior, in men, is directed into avoiding sexual betrayal and a consequent waste of resources and effort in taking care of someone else's offspring. There are, additionally, cultural and social explanations for the origin of jealousy. According to one, the narrative from which jealousy arises can be in great part made by the imagination. Imagination is strongly affected by a person's cultural milieu. The pattern of reasoning and the way one perceives situations depends strongly on cultural context. It has elsewhere been suggested that jealousy is in fact a secondary emotion in reaction to one's needs not being met, be those needs for attachment, attention, reassurance, or any other form of care that would be otherwise expected to arise from that primary romantic relationship.

While mainstream psychology considers sexual arousal through jealousy a paraphilia, some authors on sexuality (Serge Kreutz, Instrumental Jealousy) have argued that jealousy in manageable dimensions can have a definite positive effect on sexual function and sexual satisfaction. Studies have also shown that jealousy sometimes heightens passion towards partners and increases the intensity of passionate sex.[37][38]

Jealousy in children and teenagers has been observed more often in those with low self-esteem and can evoke aggressive reactions.[39] One such study suggested that developing intimate friends can be followed by emotional insecurity and loneliness in some children when those intimate friends interact with others. Research by Sybil Hart, Ph.D., at Texas Tech University, indicates that children are capable of feeling and displaying jealousy at as young as six months.[40] Infants showed signs of distress when their mothers focused their attention on a lifelike doll. This research could explain why children and infants show distress when a sibling is born, creating the foundation for sibling rivalry.[41]

In sociology

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Main article: Jealousy sociology

Anthropologists have claimed that jealousy varies across cultures. Cultural learning can influence the situations that trigger jealousy and the manner in which jealousy is expressed. Attitudes toward jealousy can also change within a culture over time. For example, attitudes toward jealousy changed substantially during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. People in the United States adopted much more negative views about jealousy. It is also hypothesized that jealousy is influenced by life experience, society, culture, and a way to promote social order and prohibition of adultery. [42]

Applications

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In fiction, film, and art

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A Japanese painting from 1750 shows a young man catching his lover reading a love letter from a rival.

Artistic depictions of jealousy occur in fiction, films, and other art forms such as painting and sculpture. Jealousy is the powerful complex of emotions experienced at the loss, real or imagined, of something or someone you believe is yours, whereas envy concerns what you do not have and would like to possess. In Shakespeare's play Othello, the title character is filled with jealousy at the thought of losing his beloved Desdemona: his ensign, Iago, is consumed with envy of Othello’s prestige. Because jealous lovers tell multiple stories about those who arouse their jealousy, and because the emotion is so corrosive, jealousy is a common theme in literature, art, theatre, and film.

In more modern films jealousy is still expressed as an emotion or loss of a real or imagined belief of something that a person once obtained. Some films that portray jealousy with the target audience being young children are Cinderella, Snow White and Toy Story. All three are Disney movies with a message of jealousy among characters. The movie Cinderella originated as a folk tale and was turned into a movie in 1950 by Walt Disney. The story line includes Lady Tremaine who is jealous of her step daughter Cinderella because of the loss of attention that she receives from her husband when Cinderella is around. The jealousy continues after Lady Tremaine’s husband dies and she becomes a widow. Lady Tremaine treats Cinderella with no respect due to her emotions of jealousy and envy. Snow White is also a folk story turned into an animated film. Producer Walt Disney produces the story line of a step mother who is jealous of her step daughter now being the “fairest in the land” and is also very envious of her beauty. This results in the Queen, Snow White’s step mom, hiring a hunter to kill her and bring back her heart. The third animated Disney movie that jealousy plays a strong role in is Toy Story. Woody, the original toy that the boy owns, becomes jealous of the boy’s new toy Buzz Lightyear. This jealousy is relevant because Woody no longer gets played with like he used to. Woody eventually overcomes his jealousy and in the end becomes friends with Buzz Lightyear.

In religion

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Main article: Jealousy in religion

Jealousy in religion examines how the scriptures and teachings of various religions deal with the topic of jealousy. Religions may be compared and contrasted on how they deal with two issues: concepts of divine jealousy and rules about the provocation and expression of human jealousy.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Draghi-Lorenz, R. (2000). Five-month-old infants can be jealous: Against cognitivist solipsism. Paper presented in a symposium convened for the XIIth Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS), 16–19 July, Brighton, UK.
  2. ^ Hart, S. (2002). Jealousy in 6-month-old infants. Infancy, 3, 395–402.
  3. ^ Hart, S. (2004). When infants lose exclusive maternal attention: Is it jealousy? Infancy, 6, 57–78.
  4. ^ Shackelford, T. K., Voracek, M., Schmitt, D. P., Buss, D. M., Weekes-Shackelford, V. A., & Michalski, R. L. (2004). Romantic jealousy in early adulthood and in later life. Human Nature, 15, 283–300.
  5. ^ Buss, D. M. (2000). The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy is as Necessary as Love and Sex. New York: Free Press.
  6. ^ Buss DM (December 2001), "Human nature and culture: an evolutionary psychological perspective", J Pers, 69 (6): 955–78, doi:10.1111/1467-6494.696171, PMID 11767825.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ White, G. L., & Mullen, P. E. (1989). Jealousy: Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  8. ^ Peter Salovey. The Psychology of Jealousy and Envy. 1991. ISBN 978-0-89862-555-4
  9. ^ Guerrero, L. K., & Anderson, P. A. (1998). Jealousy experience and expression in romantic relationships. In Anderson & Guerro, L.K (Eds.), In Handbook of communication and emotion: Research, theory, applications, and contexts (pp.155-188). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  10. ^ Roach, J. (2011). "Evolution and the Prevention of Violent Crime". Psychology. 02 (4): 393–357. doi:10.4236/psych.2011.24062.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  11. ^ Goetz, A. T. (2010). "The evolutionary psychology of violence". Psicothema. 22 (1): 15–21. PMID 20100422.
  12. ^ Belcher, L. (2005). Types of jealousy. Livestrong.com
  13. ^ Jealous, Online Etymology Dictionary
  14. ^ Zelos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English Lexicon", at Perseus
  15. ^ Othello, Act III, Scene 3, 170
  16. ^ Darwin, C. (1872). The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. Retrieved July 4, 2006 from the World eBook Library . Also available from ManyBooks.net.
  17. ^ Clanton, G. & Smith, L. (1977). Jealousy. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
  18. ^ Buunk, B. (1984). Jealousy as related to attributions for the partner's behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 47, 107–112.
  19. ^ White, G. L. (1981). Jealousy and partner's perceived motives for attraction to a rival. Social Psychology Quarterly, 44, 24–30.
  20. ^ Bringle, R. G. & Buunk, B.P. (1991). Extradyadic relationships and sexual jealousy. In K. McKinney and S. Sprecher (Eds.), Sexuality in Close Relationships, (pp. 135-153) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  21. ^ Guerrero, L. K., Spitzberg, B. H., & Yoshimura, S. M. (2004). Sexual and Emotional Jealousy. In J.H. Harvey, S. Sprecher, and A. Wenzel (Eds.), The Handbook of Sexuality in Close Relationships (pp. 311-345). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  22. ^ Bevan, J. L. (2004). General partner and relational uncertainty as consequences of another person's jealousy expression. Western Journal of Communication, 68, 195–218.
  23. ^ Sharpsteen, D. J., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1997). Romantic jealousy and adult romantic attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 627–640.
  24. ^ Margot Grzywacz, "Eifersucht" in den romanischen Sprachen (Bochum-Langendreer, Germany: H. Pöppinghaus, 1937), p. 4
  25. ^ Lloyd, R. (1995). Closer & Closer Apart: Jealousy in Literature. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  26. ^ a b Parrot, W. G. & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 906–920.
  27. ^ Kristjansson, K. (2002). Justifying Emotions: Pride and Jealousy. Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory, New York: Routledge.
  28. ^ Smith R. H., Kim, S. H., & Parrott, W. G. (1988). Envy and jealousy: Semantic problems and experiential distinctions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 401–409.
  29. ^ Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
  30. ^ Guerrero, L. K. & Andersen, P. A. (1998). The dark side of jealousy and envy: desire, delusion, desperation, and destructive communication. In W.R. Cupach and B.H. Spitzberg (Eds.), The Dark Side of Close Relationships. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  31. ^ a b Parrott, W.G. (1992). The emotional experiences of envy and jealousy. In P. Salovey (Ed.), The Psychology of Jealousy and Envy (pp. 3–29). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
  32. ^ Staff, P.T. (1994), "A devastating difference", Psychology Today, Document ID 1544, retrieved 2006-07-08 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  33. ^ Pines, A. & Aronson, E. (1983). Antecedents, correlates, and consequences of sexual jealousy. Journal of Personality, 51, 108-136.
  34. ^ Parrott, W. G. (2001). Emotions in Social Psychology. Psychology Press.
  35. ^ Goldie, P. (2000). The Emotions, A Philosophical Exploration. Oxford University Press.
  36. ^ Prinz, J. J. (2004). Gut Reactions: A Perceptual Theory of Emotions. Oxford University Press.
  37. ^ Emotions and sexuality. In K. McKinney and S. Sprecher (Eds.), Sexuality, in close relationships (pp. 49–70). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  38. ^ Pines, A. (1992). Romantic jealousy: Understanding and conquering the shadow of love. New York: St. Martin's Press.
  39. ^ "Study links jealousy with aggression, low self-esteem". Apa.org. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
  40. ^ Hart, S. & Carrington, H. (2002). Jealousy in six-month-old infants. Infancy, 3, 395-402.
  41. ^ Hart, S., Carrington, H., Tronick, E. Z., & Carroll, S. (2004). When infants lose exclusive maternal attention: Is it jealousy? Infancy, 6, 57-78.
  42. ^ Clanton, G. (1996). A sociology of jealousy. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 16(9/10), 171-189.

Further reading

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  • Peter Goldie. The Emotions, A Philosophical Exploration . Oxford University Press, 2000
  • W. Gerrod Parrott. Emotions in Social Psychology . Psychology Press, 2001
  • Jesse J. Prinz. Gut Reactions: A Perceptual Theory of Emotions. Oxford University Press, 2004
  • Staff, P.T. (1994), "A devastating difference", Psychology Today, Document ID 1544, retrieved 2006-07-08 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Jealousy among the Sangha Quoting Jeremy Hayward from his book on Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chögyam Trungpa
  • Hart, S. L. & Legerstee, M. (Eds.) "Handbook of Jealousy: Theory, Research, and Multidisciplinary Approaches" . Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
  • Pistole, M., Roberts, A., & Mosko, J. E. (2010). Commitment Predictors: Long-Distance Versus Geographically Close Relationships. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88(2), 146. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
  • Levy, Kenneth N., Kelly, Kristen M Feb 2010; Sex Differences in Jealousy: A Contribution From Attachment Theory Psychological Science, vol. 21: pp. 168–173
  • Green, M. C., & Sabini, J. (2006). Gender, socioeconomic status, age, and jealousy: Emotional responses to infidelity in a national sample. Emotion, 6(2), 330-334. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.330
  • RAUER, A. J., & VOLLING, B. L. (2007). Differential parenting and sibling jealousy: Developmental correlates of young adults’ romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 14(4), 495-511. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00168.x
  • Pistole, M., Roberts, A., & Mosko, J. E. (2010). Commitment Predictors: Long-Distance Versus Geographically Close Relationships. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88(2), 146. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
[edit]
Look up sandbox in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Category:Emotions Category:Greek loanwords Category:Philosophy of love Category:Personal life

DR. CHIVERS THIS IS WHERE THE SEXUAL JEALOUSY PAGE STARTS-----------------------------------------------------


Sexual jealousy can be defined as a response triggered when a significant other displays sexual interest in another person. Perceptions of sexual jealousy differ across cultures. For example, in one culture, an “involved” woman flirting with, dancing with, or kissing another man may be considered infidelity, whereas in another culture such behavior would be considered sheer fun.[1]

Emotion theorists have attempted to explain the jealous response with a social-cognitive model that distinguishes between primary and secondary appraisals of potentially threatening situations. A primary appraisal is whether a person judges an interaction as positive, negative, or of no consequence to him or herself. Secondary appraisals come later if the primary appraisal is negative and the person is trying to gauge the severity of the interaction in regards to if and how it will affect their current relationship and subsequently how they will deal with it. Primary appraisals can be manifested from simple actions between a significant other and someone who is seen as a threat. These appraisals will produce a reaction in humans and non-humans alike to prevent the occurrence of positive interactions between a mate and other rival partners.[2]

Evidence from the other great Apes suggests that jealousy is a mate protection strategy designed to maintain low levels of female promiscuity. A single Silverback Gorilla can protect up to eight females as his own, and is thus able to gain a reproductive monopoly. As a result, gorillas do not have a great deal of sperm competition, and therefore have very small testes relative to stature. Humans on the other hand, have slightly larger testes relative to stature, but still have small testes compared to other apes. This suggests that humans have somewhat more sperm competition, and therefore have more reason to be suspicious of a mate’s interest in another. Jealousy likely evolved as a by-product of this competition for mates.[3]

The evolutionary theory of sexual jealousy seeks to explain differences in jealousy between sexes from a biological/evolutionary standpoint. Responses differ in men and women because the two sexes have different needs in order to maintain fitness. For women, when a man is unfaithful in a relationship it is the emotional infidelity that is cause for concern, while for men it is physical sexual infidelity.[2] According to David Buss, this difference comes from the way men and women’s brain circuits guide their emotional reactions.[4]

Theories

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Evolutionary

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The evolutionary approach to jealousy insists that male’s fitness is based on their exclusive access to their partner and female’s fitness is based on the trust that their partner will provide post-copulatory resources to them which may be demonstrated through emotional attachment. For instance, males cued by an interloper are more jealous of rivals with more resources, while women are more jealous of more physically attractive rivals,[5] demonstrating jealousy towards things that are important to the individual's mate. Furthermore, among relationships, men show more jealous mate-guarding when their partner is physically attractive and in the fertile cycle, whereas women show more jealous mate-guarding when their partner has a lot of resources.[6][7] This provides an explanation as to why men should adaptively consider sexual infidelity more distressing than women and women should consider emotional infidelity more distressing than men.[8][9] Evidence for this comes from such studies as Buss et al., in which men show greater reactivity to sexual infidelity than women on a physiological measure[5], and by Kuhle, Smedley, and Schmitt, demonstrating that males and females have sex-differentiated damage assessment strategies for reacting to partner infidelity.[10] Furthermore, de Weerth and Kalma found that when asking which aspect of an infidelity is most disturbing, males said the closer the sexual relationship was the more distressing it was, while females were more upset about their partner’s use of time and resources on the other person.[11] In addition, studies examining how individual’s react to same-sex infidelity show that partner’s are less jealous in these instances in comparison to opposite-sex infidelity [12], supporting an evolutionary theory approach.

Sex differences in distress when faced with emotional or sexual infidelity.[2]

There are also distinct emotional responses regarding gender differences in romantic relationships.[5] For example, due to paternity uncertainty in males, which is discussed in more depth later, jealousy increases in males in regards to sexual infidelity rather than emotional infidelity. Furthermore, women are more likely to be upset by signs of resource withdraw (i.e. another female) than by sexual infidelity, and a large amount of data supports this notion of an innate module of jealousy, often called the jealousy specific innate model (JSIM). (e.g. [2][13][14]). However, one must also consider the life stage or experience of the individual in reference to the diverse responses to infidelity available. In regards to this, the JSIM may prove to not be innate, but rather sensitive to situational factors. As a result it may only activate at stages in one's life. For example, Buss et al.[14] predicted that male jealousy decreases as female’s reproductive values decreases.

While many sex based differences do exist, similarities can also be found between the sexes in regards to jealousy. These include the function of alerting an individual of threats to their valued relationship, which is activated by interested and more desirable rivals, and the behavioural component of motivation to deter the rival so as to prevent infidelity and abandonment. [5] Therefore, it’s seen that both sexes are similarly jealous and distressed in regards to the possibility of potentially losing reproductively valuable resources in the form of their partner. A further similarity includes the fact that both men and women with high sex drive have higher sexual jealousy, presumably because that means that the partner is giving sexual resources away to another individual.[13]

It has also been found that between genders, those with a high 2D:4D ratio, which is a measure of the fingers and is seen as a correlate of prenatal testosterone, negatively correlate with ratings of sexual jealousy. Therefore, this supports the evolutionary approach in that it appears that more masculinised brains show higher sexual jealousy, among other traits such as promiscuity, aggression, and dominance.[15]

It is also postulated that men and women may differ in their jealousy through the evolution of processing in the brain. For example, cognitively, men and women also appear to differ in their jealousy in that men are more likely to recall cues of sexual infidelity while women are better at recalling cues of emotional infidelity, and when men find out about infidelity, they’re less likely to forgive a sexual infidelity and more likely to terminate a relationship as opposed to an emotional infidelity.[16][17] However, these seemingly evolutionary sex differences in jealousy seem to disappear in studies where men and women are asked to answer questions about emotional and sexual infidelity while giving them the cognitive load of remembering a set of numbers. In studies such as these, men’s responses don’t differ, but women do in that they choose sexual infidelity as more distressing, suggesting that women may only show differences in other studies because of self-presentation strategies to give a good impression of themselves.[2][18] Therefore, this provides evidence that males and females may not actually be as different in regards to jealousy as expected, which goes against the evolutionary model.

Parental Investment Model

One evolutionary model for jealousy is the parental investment model. After choosing a mate, females bear the brunt of child production. Not only does the woman have to produce and carry the baby, in western society she remains responsible for raising him or her. Because offspring are at such a high cost for the female, the male’s resource contribution could mean life or death for her and her child, weighing significantly on her fitness potential.[19] If a woman knows or suspects that her husband is being unfaithful, she will be more concerned that he is sharing his resources with another female, rather than making another baby. As a result, for females, emotional infidelity is significantly more vexing than sexual infidelity and for males, sexual infidelity is much more distressing due to the fact that there is the risk of wasting resources on a child that isn’t theirs.[20] In a study done to determine the behavioral differences between men and women in terms of jealousy, researchers found that women were most upset when they found out, or suspected, that their mate had given a gift to another woman, closely followed by spending time with another woman, and spending time thinking about another woman.[11] These are considered the worst offenses because the man is giving away both monetary resources and time that he could be using to support his child. By giving a gift to another woman, the man may not directly take much away from the fitness of his primary mate, but he perpetuates a threat that he may shift all of his resources to another woman, which would be dramatically detrimental to the fitness of his primary mate, as well as her child. In the same study, women also self-reported more overall jealousy in relationships than men did. This is likely due to the parental investment costs that females incur – females have more to lose with an unfaithful spouse.[11]

One major factor in the shifting role of sexual jealousy between men and women is the widespread presence of contraception in the western world. If there is no risk that a long term mate is getting pregnant, the male no longer needs to worry about who will father his child. The woman, however, frequently still relies on the male for resources. Even if she does not have a child, society, to some degree, still dictates that a man must support his wife financially. Females on birth control must still be wary of the other women her husband is seeing for fear that he will abandon her, and she will not be able to support herself, or have children at all. This is not as much of a concern for men.[21]

Furthermore, in modern day, it is now questioned how jealousy interacts in instances of internet infidelity, due to the fact that online relationships can contain sexual, yet not physical, contexts as well as emotional ones. Research has shown that both sexual and emotional internet infidelity result in greater jealousy in males for sexual infidelity and females for emotional infidelity, which parallels offline infidelity.[22][23] Suggestions as to why this occurs can come from a cognitive model whereby processing jealousy in the brain occurs the same with online and offline infidelity[24], and another explanation is that people may think online infidelity would lead to offline infidelity and therefore be the same level of threat to their resources.[23] Therefore, this may be evidence for the JSIM since these sex differences in jealousy seem to extend to instances when a loss of resources is implied.

Paternity Uncertainty

A theory closely related to the parental investment model is the idea of paternity uncertainty. The consensus among biologists regarding the reason for male sexual jealousy is concern over paternity confidence for existing and future offspring.[25] The male partner invests paternal care (time, energy, affection, resources) in a female to ensure reproductive success, and in turn, he wants to invest parental care only in those offspring who are his own.[25] While maternity is unmistakable, paternity is less certain when internal fertilization exists [26] and there is concealed ovulation in females.[27][28] Human females are unique in that ovulation is nearly impossible to detect. Women, therefore, may be receptive to fertilization at any point in their ovulatory cycle.[27] If paternal investment were unlikely, advertisement of ovulation would likely increase copulations at fertile points in her cycle, as well as increase the likelihood of securing a competitive male.[27][28] Where paternal investment is likely, concealed ovulation might oblige males to commit to a consort relationship – thereby minimizing the risk of the males finding other mates, while also ensuring paternity confidence in the offspring.[27][28] A study by Gaulin and Schlegel shows that in societies where paternity confidence is low, males are much less likely to invest in their partner’s offspring, and instead they will invest in their sister’s children - a genetic relationship that is guaranteed.[29] Historically, human males have demanded assurances that offspring are genetically related before they invest in a child.[25] This is a common occurrence bridging most human cultures and societies. Barett et al. argue that sexual jealousy is a demonstration of men’s desire to control the sexual behavior of women in order to guarantee paternity certainty - thereby ensuring they are investing in their own offspring.[25]

Through history, the control of female sexual behavior has been manifested in many different ways. Barett et al. describes these systems as “honor and shame systems” where the “honor and prestige of a lineage is premised on the chastity of its daughters”.[25] The intensity of these cultural codes tends to increase with social status; this supports the assumption that higher ranking males tend to have a larger investment in the paternal care of their offspring.[30] These cultural practices are a collection of contexts where men control female chastity and fidelity, reduce female mate choice, and promote the institutional seclusion and incapacitation of women.[30] Dickeman illustrates specific examples of sexual control including: the insistence that women are virgins before marriage, “modest” dress restrictions under Islamic law, foot binding and chaperoning in public in ancient China, and cliterodectomy in Sub-Saharan Africa.[30] Each of these cases represents a cultural framework constructed to control women’s exposure to other people, mobility, or sexual behavior - thereby helping ensure paternity certainty for husbands and potential fathers.[30]

In the Dogon culture, in Mali, West Africa, males use the traditional religion (Animism) as a tool to achieve male reproductive interests.[31] Specifically, Dogon men impose menstrual taboos to ensure paternity certainty and reduce the risk of cuckoldry.[32][31] Dogon women do not use contraception; therefore menstruation is a relatively rare event.[31] The timing of menstruation, therefore, becomes a reliable indicator for fecundity. During menstruation, women in the Dogon culture must spend nights in the menstrual hut. The design and location of the menstrual hut is such that the husband’s patrilineage can observe who is in the hut and who is not.[31] Women must advertise their menses- thereby providing information that will help husbands assess paternity certainty based on the timing of menstruation, copulation, and conception.[32][31] Using hormonal data, Strassmann’s research shows that these menstrual taboos were effective in signaling the honest reproductive status of Dogon women; women went to the menstrual hut in 86% of menses, and never went to the hut while pregnant, in amenorrhea, or cycling.[31]

Since paternity is not guaranteed, males do not only rely on female sexual fidelity, and timing of conception, but phenotypic resemblance can also support or undermine paternity certainty.[26] After a child is born, females are inclined to assure confidence in paternity through comments about the likeness of the child to the father.[26][33] Daly and Wilson showed that in Canadian maternity wards, mothers are especially inclined to make comments about the physical similarities between the father and the infant more often than the similarities between the mother and the infant.[26] Similar results have been found through a study in Mexico, where after a birth, paternal resemblance was more often alleged than maternal resemblance, and the mother is responsible for most of these comments.[33] Paternal confidence is manipulable, and often mothers will attempt to strengthen the bond between a father and child by citing their relatedness and phenotypic similarities.[26]

Sociocultural

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In contrast, the sociocultural approach explains jealousy as a cultural construct, and that gender differences can be seen due to gender-specific socialization, different attributional styles, and cost-benefit analyses.[9][11] For example, in society it is often agreed upon that women consider love a requirement for sex, and therefore sexual infidelity of a man’s partner may be more upsetting because it implies that she is both emotionally and sexually unfaithful, a concept termed the ‘double-shot’ hypothesis.[8][2] Meanwhile, men are often seen as having sex without love attached, therefore women may be more distressed when their partner engages in emotional versus sexual infidelity. Sociocultural theories may also consider that men and women differ based purely on their socialized gender roles as well as the fact that men tend to be pushed to be emotionally dependent while women are encouraged to have more emotional connections[8], therefore women may be more likely to fear isolation that may result from emotional infidelity.

The ‘discounting’ hypothesis considers the fact that men may be more likely to have extrarelational sex but still remain devoted to the relationship and the ‘cognitive adaptation’ hypothesis explains that women may just expect their partner to be more likely to be promiscuous and therefore accept it more easily than emotional infidelity.[8] Both of these hypotheses suggest that since jealousy is based on the gender of the unfaithful partner, homosexual men should respond similarly as heterosexual women, and homosexual women should respond to their partner’s infidelity similarly as heterosexual men.

Homosexual men and women and heterosexual women show greater emotional jealousy than heterosexual men.[34]

However, Sheets and Wolfe[8], conducted a study examining heterosexual and homosexual participant’s level of distress when imagining sexual vs. emotional infidelity of their partner and found different results. They hypothesized that if sexual jealousy is biologically linked to sex, then homosexual males, even though there is no threat to reproductive fitness, should find sexual jealousy as distressing as heterosexual males. To the contrary, their results concluded that both homosexual men and women and heterosexual women find emotional infidelity more distressing than sexual, suggesting that evolutionary theory does not account for these differences, but the previous sociocultural theory doesn’t either.[8][34] Furthermore, another study demonstrated that although men more than women select sexual infidelity as more distressing than emotional infidelity, the majority select emotional infidelity as more distressing than sexual infidelity.[34] Therefore, a complicated mix of culture and other aspects of society may account for jealousy.

In addition, research by Salovey and Rothman describes how people experience jealousy to rivals specific to a certain domain that is important to the self, labelled the ‘domain relevant hypothesis’.[35] It has also been referred to as the ‘distinctiveness hypothesis’ in that individuals will feel jealousy towards rivals who are similar to them because it takes away from their own distinct qualities.[36] For example, some studies have shown that males show more jealousy to a more dominant rival, while women show jealousy to a rival that is more physically attractive.[37]

Furthermore, attributional style matters in the experience of jealousy, with jealousy more likely to occur when an individual attributes their partner’s actions to internal, controllable, and intentional states.[38] Studies by Russell and Harton have also shown that males and females are similar in that they judge subtle sexual scenarios as more upsetting than emotional scenarios, and are more upset if the rival is a stranger rather than a friend.[39] These results suggest that jealousy depends on people’s attributions about a particular situation, and another finding shows that individual differences also play a role, with those who score high on emotional jealousy scoring higher on jealousy and negative perceptions in general.[39]

Furthermore, in a study by Mathes it was demonstrated that both females and males view sexual infidelity more upsetting in a short-term context, therefore; the context of the relationship weighs importance on differences of the distress and jealousy experienced by both genders.[40] Moreover, both genders report greater upset in regards to hypothetical situations where their short-term partner has engaged in intercourse with someone else as opposed to kissing[41], supporting the previous finding.

Meanwhile, there is a double standard in regards to sexual jealousy whereby women are more likely to tolerate infidelity in their partneras well as receive more harsh punishment for their own infidelity.[42] Overall, this involves two double standards: a sexual double standard whereby women should expect their partner to be unfaithful, and an aggression double standard whereby women should control their reactions to these acts of infidelity.[42] In regards to this debate regarding whether the double standard in sexual jealousy is due to evolved sex differences or a way for males to control females, Paul, Foss, and Baenninger, gave two questionnaires to participants, one containing mild sexual transgressions and the other containing serious sexual transgressions. As mentioned, paternal uncertainty may be a factor that evolved specifically in males, therefore influencing the sex difference of sexual jealousy.[42] However, the authors also hypothesize that the double standard could be related to patriarchal ideology, which is a belief system that tends to promote male reproductive fitness at the expense of women’s.[42] The results of the study support the manipulative, controlling aspect of the double standard as opposed to evolved differences, due to the fact that both men and women answered the questionnaires in a self-interested way, showing a different double standard in the viewpoint of each sex. In addition, women were found to have more aggression towards their unfaithful partner and their rival than men, opposing the evolved sex differences hypothesis.[42] Therefore, it is suggested that if women had more power than men, the double standard of control over sexual behaviour could flip in support of women’s reproductive strategies.[42]

Attachment Theory

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Another theory used to explain the existence of sexual jealousy is attachment theory. Attachment theory says that differences in how you are raised may lead to subsequent differences in how trusting you are in your sexual relationships. For example, according to work done by Phillip Shaver of the University of California, people who were brought up with loving, caring, and emotionally stable parents were able to have successful future relationships and marriages consisting of little jealousy. On the other hand, people who grew up with parents who were detached and impersonal later had dismissive relationships, were afraid of attachment and commitment, and were more likely to be overly protective and sense more threats to their relationship, thereby becoming jealous.[43] This process of "nurturing socialization" manifests itself at a very young age. A study performed by Sybil Hart found that the development of jealousy occurs during infancy. This study showed that babies as young as six months of age exhibited negative facial expressions when they saw their mothers positively interacting with a baby doll.[44], suggesting that jealously is observed in all humans even at a very young age.

Jealousy and Attachment
Individuals with a dismissing attachment style show greater sexual jealousy.[20]

In addition, according to more recent research, sex and attachment style make significant and unique interactive contributions to the type of distress experienced, demonstrating that individuals with a dismissing/avoidance parental attachment have more sexual jealousy because they don’t value intimacy and emotional closeness as much, while those with secure, fearful, and preoccupied attachment styles show more emotional jealousy.[20][13] These findings imply that psychological and cultural mechanisms regarding sex differences may play a larger role than expected, and that promoting secure attachment can be beneficial by avoiding sexual jealousy and any forms of violence that may accompany it.[45][20] Attachment theory also reveals how infant attachment patterns are the basis for self-report measures of adult attachment.[45] Although there are no sex differences, in childhood attachment individuals with dismissing behavior were more concerned with the sexual aspects of relationships.[20] As a coping mechanism these individuals would report sexual infidelity as more harmful. Moreover, research shows that adult attachment styles strongly conclude with the type of infidelity that occurred. Thus psychological and cultural mechanisms are implied as unvarying differences in jealousy that play a role in sexual attachment.[20] However, more recent research has failed to replicate these attachment styles, and demonstrate the traditional findings of men displaying more sexual jealousy and women displaying more emotional jealousy, regardless of attachment style.[46]

Although research has recognized the importance of early childhood experiences for the development of competence in intimate relationships, early family environment is recently being examined as well.[47] Research on self esteem and attachment theory suggest that individuals internalize early experiences within the family which subconsciously translates into their personal view of worth of themselves and the value of being close to other individuals, especially in an interpersonal relationship.[48]

Jealousy as a Function of Self Esteem

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Bram Buunk’s research on the correlations between sexual jealousy, self-esteem and past participation in extramarital affairs found that women who are less sure of themselves experience or anticipate more jealousy, unless they have participated in extramarital affairs themselves.[49] If a woman has had an extramarital affair, it is likely that she is more aware of the loss-risk, and is therefore less jealous when her partner is unfaithful. Meanwhile, women who experience low self-esteem are much more afraid that their partner is dissatisfied and being unfaithful, and experience anticipated jealousy.[49] These findings are supported by Khanchandani’s research on the effects of situational and personality variables on jealousy in college-aged women, which found that jealousy was significantly higher in women who tested for lower self-esteem on the Rosenberg Self-Description Scale.[50] Furthermore, in terms of men, it has been demonstrated that men being cuckolded experience a decrease in self-esteem.[26][51]

In addition, Stieger, Preyss, and Voracek examined differences in men and women in regards to self-esteem and jealousy and discovered that men high in jealousy have low explicit self-esteem (conscious, deliberate), while women high in jealousy have low implicit self-esteem (automatic).[52] Furthermore, those with damaged self-esteem (low implicit and explicit) were more jealous than those with fragile self-esteem (high explicit and low implicit).[52] However, with these correlational results causation cannot be made as to whether innate self-esteem caused jealousy or innate jealousy caused self-esteem.

Aggression and Jealousy

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Contrary to statistics on spousal abuse in which men are the abusers, women are more likely to report that their hypothetical sexual jealousy would manifest itself as anger and both physical and verbal aggression, and both men and women expect the woman to react with more anger and revenge.[11] While both sexes reported experiencing sexual jealousy in relationships, as well as an interest in discussing the reasons for the infidelity, significantly more surveyed females claimed that they would cry, and then act aggressively toward their unfaithful spouse. However, it is unclear whether these are legitimate differences in aggression from jealousy-inducing situations or if men and women in the study varied in their perception of an aggressive act.[11] It is also speculated that perhaps the reason why males don’t show higher aggression (as would go along with the paternity confidence hypothesis) is because of the equalization of gender and power in today’s society.[11] Furthermore, going against the evolutionary hypothesis, when a relationship is terminated due to infidelity, women are significantly more likely to end it than men.[34] In addition, in a study examining 2,060 murders, it was found that women are twice as likely to murder as a result of jealousy.[2] Women also claimed that they would feign indifference as well as an attempt to make themselves more physically attractive to their mate.[11]

Furthermore, in a study by Paul and Galloway, it was found that more men than women report aggressive actions as a response to partner infidelity as a release of their frustration[53], suggesting that in relation to evolutionary theory, women are devalued more by an act of sexual infidelity and men are angered by this devaluation of a resource. In fact, this expression of frustration may also serve the purpose of influencing the partner to change their ways and become more faithful. Furthermore, men more than women felt greater uncertainty about women’s fidelity, and therefore demonstrate more sexual jealousy, which potentially accounts for why men tend to try to control women’s sexual behaviour.[53] However, men and women did not differ in their motives to get back at their rival, and equally expressed interest in maintaining the relationship, preventing future infidelity, and attracting another partner, demonstrating how individuals will try to continue the relationship for whatever benefits, while still searching for a different partner.[53]

There are some conflicting theories on who becomes the target of female sexual jealousy. One theory suggests that women are generally more inclined to feel empathy, so they empathize with “the other woman,” and target all of their aggression and anger at the unfaithful male.[11] On the other hand, however, one study has suggested that because in a sexual relationship females are the discriminating one (the one choosing the mate), the female lends herself as a primary target for sexual jealousy. Therefore, a woman will preferentially direct her jealousy toward her rival female, even though it is her husband who is the unfaithful one. As a result, when a woman is around a suspected rival female, she is more likely than a male counterpart to announce that her companion is “taken,” and go out of her way to enhance her appearance to her spouse.[19] Furthermore, de Weerth and Kalma[11] demonstrated that female respondents were significantly more likely to state that they would physically attack their unfaithful partner, with Paul and Galloway stating that females would be more likely to harass and be more behaviourally and emotionally reactive to a female rival and show anger towards their partner.[53]

In that same vein, Gregory White found that women are more likely to attempt to induce jealousy in their partner for some type of gain. Women who considered themselves to be in “low-power” positions in their relationships reported inducing jealousy in hopes that their partner would spend more time with them, or pay more attention to them.[54] White believes that the inducement of jealousy is a manipulation of power on the female’s part, using the partner’s jealousy to gain influence in the relationship.[54]

Cross-Cultural Differences

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In terms of cross-cultural differences in the elicitation of sexual jealousy, Buunk and Hupka hypothesized that cultures will vary in the incidence of sexual jealousy and coping strategies to deal with it, and researched whether sexual jealousy is caused by different kinds of behaviour. Their research gave support to both evolutionary and sociocultural theories of sexual jealousy, demonstrating that cross-national similarities include distress from explicit erotic behaviour; however, behaviours such as dancing, hugging, and kissing varied more throughout cultures.[1] Furthermore, the extent of an individual’s reaction to behaviours differed cross-culturally depending on the behaviour [1], therefore, this research demonstrates that there are differences in sexual jealousy across cultures, which future studies would need to account for.

The importance of certain cultural values also influence type of jealousy expressed. Hupka and Ryan conducted correlations between different societies and the cultural importance placed on certain values such as being married, limitations on extramarital or premarital gratification, private ownership of property, and the need to have descendants, compared to the level of aggression found in jealousy-evoking situations. The results of the study indicated that men show significantly more aggression in jealousy-evoking situations if their culture places more importance on all of the values listed above except for having descendants, perhaps because males realize they need females in order to have children.[55] In females, no significant differences were found in any of the results, indicating that females may merely have fewer options available to them for mates.[55]

Manifestations

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The consequences of sexual jealousy among partners vary. Jealousy is one of the top three reasons for non-accidental homicides.[2] Sexual jealousy can lead to male aggression and possessiveness, but female physical aggression, such as kicking, slapping, or shoving a mate in anger, has also been observed after jealousy manifests.[56] Men who are responsible for homicides due to sexual jealousy normally lash out against their wives and sometimes their children too, often after the woman tries to end the relationship.[57] A common quote from jealous homicide killers is, “If I can’t have her nobody can.” Other frequent expressions husbands will use are that they will find their wives if they leave and kill them.[57] Morbid jealousy is another way to describe a jealous individual who obsessively checks up on his or her mate, delusionally thinks they are cheating, and commits murders of his or her mate, and sometimes others, along with constant physical assault and/or abuse.[9] Most morbidly jealous individuals require psychiatric help.[26] Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that men with morbid jealousy are more likely to use physical violence, attempt to kill, and actually kill their partners in comparison to women with morbid jealousy.[58] Jealousy is also reported to produce other emotional responses such as fear, grief, depression, anger, and violent aggressions.[1]

Men are also more likely to demonstrate preventative jealousy, involving more reaction against potential rivals and preventing contact between their partner and potential rivals.[53] On the other hand, reactive jealousy is the type of jealousy that occurs after an act of infidelity, and it has actually been demonstrated that men and women rate levels of anger equally after an act of infidelity, which is important because anger is the most salient emotion in aggression.[59][60][61]

A different explanation for these differences in manifestations, since it doesn’t entirely appear that the evolutionary model is supported, is a cognitive-social perspective, stating that an individual’s appraisal of the threat determines the seriousness of which they react to it.[34] In this regard, the individual determines if an event is beneficial or consequential to them and then based on this judgment arranges a coping mechanism to deal with it.[2]

Discrepancies in Research

[edit]
Emotional aspects of an unfaithful act are more important in instances of thinking of real infidelity as opposed to forced-choice method with hypothetical scenarios across both genders.[2]

Certain methodologies used in past studies that support the evolutionary theory have been questioned in more recent research. Specifically, studies that have found large gender differences in jealousy utilize the forced-choice method, which has been contested by other researchers as not a good calculation of jealousy. To discount the forced-choice method, studies have found that presenting jealousy-evoking scenarios with a continuous scale of rating jealousy shows that men and women’s differences seem to disappear.[2][18] On the contrary, there have also been the traditional sex differences found in some studies using continuous measures, so there is some inconsistency in these results.[12]

Furthermore, Tagler has shown that sex differences in jealousy tend to disappear when ones moves from forced-choice responses to questions regarding actual experience with infidelity, as well as when one moves from young age to older age[62], which could account for previous findings in sex differences in jealousy.[63] However, Edlund and Sagarin warn about falling prey to some studies that show nonsignificance, because often significant effect sizes aren’t found in small samples but when meta-analyses are done there is a small to moderate effect.[64] Therefore, one must take all of this information with a grain of salt.

To further expand on differences in age in these research studies, it has been shown that women's responses in jealousy become more masculinised in middle age, a time when women often have more 'masculine' traits, such as self-confidence and assertiveness, and responses to infidelity fall more in line with men by finding sexual infidelity more distressing.[22] However, previous studies such as by Shackelford and colleagues, have shown the opposite effect with much older women.[65] Due to the fact that it has been found that women over 80 have less masculine traits than middle age women[66], it is then suggested that there may be a curvilinear relationship in sex differences in jealousy, such that women may show more of a ‘male’ response in middle age while showing more of a ‘female’ response in younger and older age.

Results from a meta-analysis of sex differences in jealousy showing moderate gender differences.[2]

The innate model of sex differences can be questioned further, however, because a meta-analysis by Harris of more than a dozen studies found that sex differences in jealousy between men and women could range from around 8% in some studies to 69% in others.[2] Furthermore, this sex effect seems to occur mostly in forced-choice responses and decreases in homosexual samples, older samples, and different cultures.[2] This not only suggests that methodology for measuring jealousy may be inaccurate, but that sociocultural factors play a part in jealousy and the innate model does not provide all of the answers.

Furthermore, the findings of the Buss (2002) article can be misleading in regards to sex differences in physiological responses to jealousy, because females only scored less physiologically reactive than men on one measure in the sexual infidelity condition.[5] In addition, physiological measures are often not entirely reliable because there is doubt regarding what emotion or internal state is actually causing the physiological changes, such as fear, anger, or sexual excitement.[2] For instance, individuals of both genders were angrier and blamed their partners more for sexual infidelities but were more hurt by emotional infidelity, demonstrating how different emotions underlie jealousy.[67]

References

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