Jealousy: Emotional Reactions and Gender Differences

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

In many cultures, homicide is the result of emotional reactions to perceived and real romantic infidelity. Jealousy also plays a prominent role in domestic violence and family breakup. Current research on jealousy has centered on Darwinian analyses that view jealousy as a specific innate adaptation that takes different forms in men and women. According to this perspective, men are innately disposed to react with hostility to indications of sexual infidelity, whereas women are innately disposed to react most intensely to indications of emotional infidelity. This research critically examines this theory and contrasts it with alternative accounts emphasizing social cognition. Whereas almost all research pertaining to jealousy and infidelity has focused on one aspect at a time of mating psychology, the current study explores the interrelation of jealousy with other individual differences, including sexual experience, relationship history and sociosexuality. The research also departs from an exclusive focus on hypothetical responses by collecting and analyzing a large group of subjects' descriptions of emotional reactions to actual incidents of infidelity in their lives. This research should enhance our understanding of some of the factors that contribute to the experience of jealousy, which may have possible applications in addressing social problems such as domestic violence and family breakup.