Aggressive responses to betrayal: Type of relationship, victim’s sex, and nature of aggression

Abstract

The present investigation explored young adults’ aggressive responses to hypothetical and actual episodes of betrayal. In two studies, we tested the following hypotheses: (a) aggressive responses would be most severe in romantic relationships when compared with friendships; (b) men and women would respond similarly to betrayal; and (c) verbal aggression would be more frequently described than physical and psychological aggressive tactics. Participants endorsed greater use of verbal aggressive tactics in response to hypothetical transgressions committed in romantic relationships when compared with friendships. In response to actual transgressions, betrayals in friendships and romantic relationships elicited similar reactions. As predicted, no sex differences were found in responses to betrayals.

Varieties of trust‐betrayal: emotion and relief patterns in different domains

“…When trust is betrayed, it hurts. Betrayal elicits a range of negative emotions (Fehr & Baldwin, 1996;Jones & Burdette, 1994) and may even evoke a variety of aggressive behavior (Haden & Hojjat, 2006). Betrayal reflects an erroneous decision to trust and it often leads to a reassessment of the relationship (Finkel et al, 2002;Lewicki & Bunker, 1996).…”

Sex Differences in Self-reported Infidelity and its Correlates

“…Whereas men are more likely to respond to infidelity with violence (e.g., Daly and Wilson 1988; but see Haden and Hojjat 2006), women are more likely to respond by distancing themselves from the relationship (Jankowiak et al 2002). In addition, when Shackelford et al (2002) asked participants to imagine scenarios in which they had been cheated on and to consider their potential responses, they found that men were more likely than women to endorse terminating a relationship following a partner's sexual infidelity.…”

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“…Motivos y reacciones ante la infidelidad en población universitaria el impulso mientras que las mujeres lo suelen hacer más debido a la insatisfacción con su pareja (Brand y cols., 2007;Haden y Hojjat, 2006;Shackelford y Goetz, 2008;Tidwell y Eastwick, 2013).…”