Sex Differences in Jealousy in Response to Actual Infidelity

Abstract

The present studies address two criticisms of the theory of evolved sex differences in jealousy: (a) that the sex difference in jealousy emerges only in response to hypothetical infidelity scenarios, and (b) that the sex difference emerges only using forced-choice measures. In two separate studies, one a paper-and-pencil survey with a student sample and the other a web-based survey targeting a non-student sample, men and women showed significant sex differences in jealousy in response to actual infidelity experiences; men experienced more jealousy in response to the sexual aspects of an actual infidelity, whereas women experienced more jealousy in response to the emotional aspects of the infidelity. Sex differences emerged using both continuous measures of jealousy as well as the traditional forced-choice measure. Overall, our results demonstrate that sex differences in jealousy are not limited to responses to hypothetical infidelity scenarios; they also emerge in response to actual infidelity experiences.

Effects of Sex, Sexual Orientation, Infidelity Expectations, and Love on Distress related to Emotional and Sexual Infidelity

“…Because "research that limits the definition of infidelity to sexual intercourse minimizes the devastating effects that other types of sexual involvement and emotional connections can have on relationships" (Blow & Hartnett, 2005, p. A plethora of researchers agree that both infidelity types must be explored in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, and many have done so in relation to which infidelity type is more distressing or upsetting: emotional infidelity or sexual infidelity. Across a multitude of studies, a reported sex difference has emerged regarding which infidelity type is viewed as more upsetting, with men seemingly more distressed by sexual infidelity as compared to women, and women experiencing more distress towards emotional infidelity than men (Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992;Buss et al, 1999;Buunk, Angleitner, Oubaid, & Buss, 1996;Cramer, Abraham, Johnson, & Manning-Ryan, 2001;Cramer, Lipinski, Meteer, & Houska, 2008;DeSteno & Salovey, 1996;DeSteno, Bartlett, Braverman, & Salovey, 2002;Edlund, Heider, Scherer, Farc, & Sagarin, 2006;Fernandez, Vera-Villarroel, Sierra, & Zubeidat, 2007;Green & Sabini, 2004;Harris, 2003;Harris & Christenfeld, 1996;Penke & Asendorpf, 2008;Sabini & Green, 2004;Sagarin, Becker, Guadagno, Nicastle, & Millevoi, 2003;Schützwohl, 2008;Ward & Voracek, 2004).…”

“…Sex differences related to which infidelity type evokes more jealousy were examined by another group of authors using both forced-choice and continuous measures (Edlund et al, 2006).…”

A systematic review of romantic jealousy in relationships

“…the second meta-analysis, presented by carpenter (2012) with 54 articles, states that data was not consistent with the evolutionary hypothesis, as the tendency of men to respond in this way was given only in samples of american students, whilst the other data supports the social-cognitive theory. However, the third meta-analysis -made by sagarin et al (2012) with 40 research papers on the subject -says that sex differences in jealousy is not a forced choice item; these emerge using continuous measurements and are not limited to responses to a hypothetical infidelity (Edlund, Heider, sherer, Farc, & sagarin, 2006).…”

Jealousy in a small-scale, natural fertility population: the roles of paternity, investment and love in jealous response

“…Non-evolutionary studies of jealousy have shown that factors such as relationship experience (Murphy et al 2006) experience with infidelity (Harris, 2002;Edlund, Heider, Scherer, Farc, & Sagarin, 2006;Johnson, 2006;Sagarin et al, 2012), and sexual orientation (Harris, 2002;DeSouza, Verderane, Taira, & Otta, 2006;Sagarin et al, 2003) are important moderators of how people perceive jealous threats. We also know from previous work that there is significant variation in the magnitude of the sex difference that is seen, as well as variation in how upset men and women are to different types of jealousy when it is measured continuously (Harris, 2003).…”