Sex differences in the jealousy‐evoking effect of rival characteristics

Abstract

Four studies examined sex differences in the jealousy-evoking nature of rival characteristics. Study 1, among 130 undergraduates, made an inventory of all relevant rival characteristics that were spontaneously mentioned when asked about a rival to whom one's partner might feel attracted. On the basis of these findings, in Study 2, among 240 undergraduates, a questionnaire was constructed, containing 56 rival characteristics. A factor analysis distinguished five dimensions of rival characteristics, i.e. Social Dominance, Physical Attractiveness, Seductive Behaviors, Physical Dominance, and Social Status. In line with the predictions, men reported more jealousy when a rival was high in Social Dominance, Physical Dominance, and Social Status, whereas women reported more jealousy when a rival was high in Physical Attractiveness. Study 3 largely replicated these findings in a community sample of 144 heterosexuals. Study 4 showed that gay men (n ¼ 80) reported more jealousy than lesbian women (n ¼ 73) when the rival was high in Physical Dominance, and more jealousy than heterosexual men when the rival was high in Social Dominance. Lesbian women reported more jealousy than heterosexual women when the rival was high in Physical Attractiveness. In Studies 2-4, favorable rival characteristics evoked more jealousy among those high in Social Comparison Orientation, particularly among women.

A systematic review of romantic jealousy in relationships

“…in addition, studies should be conducted on homosexual population (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2002;Massar & Buunk, 2010). another key element is the analysis of the impact generated by social networks on romantic jealousy, as they constantly feed the interpersonal relationships of millions of people (Dainton & stokes, 2015).…”

“…similarly, a study was conducted on the type of rival that evokes jealousy, through the inventory of 56 characteristics Nancy Martínez-León, Juan Peña, Hernán Salazar, Andrea García y Juan Carlos Sierra grouped into five factors: Social Dominance, Physical attractiveness, physical Dominance, seductive Behavior and social status (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2002). particularly, physical dominion in both sexes (body and face attractive, youth, height) and seductive voice (Buunk, park, Zurriaga, Klavina, & Massar, 2008;Buunk & Dijkstra, 2015;o'connor & Feinberg, 2012) can be threatening.…”

“…items derived from scales, auto standardized reports and questionnaires developed ad hoc. the most widely used instruments have been the forced choice measures based on the Infidelity Dilemmas (Buss, Larsen, Nancy Martínez-León, Juan Peña, Hernán Salazar, Andrea García y Juan Carlos Sierra & semmelroth, 1992; Buss et al, 1999), which were used in 62 studies (24.6%); the Multidimensional Jealousy scale (pfeiffer & Wong, 1989) in 21 (8.3%); the interpersonal Jealousy scale (Mathes & severa, 1981) used in 13 studies (5.2%); the Jealousy scale (Buunk, 1997) used in ten studies (4%) and the Jealousy evoking scenario (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2002) used in seven studies (2.8%) and 59 studies used ad hoc questionnaires (23.4%). the main results of each of the variables are integrated below.…”

Individual differences in intrasexual competition

“…Second, males and females compete in part in different domains, i.e. in the traits that are most preferred by the opposite-sex (see also ANDERSSON 1994;BUUNK, MASSAR and DIJKSTRA 2007;DIJKSTRA and BUUNK 2002). While throughout human history, men have competed more in the domains of status, resources, and dominance, women tend to compete more in the domains of physical attractiveness (e.g., CASHDAN 1998;DIJKSTRA and BUUNK 2002).…”

“…in the traits that are most preferred by the opposite-sex (see also ANDERSSON 1994;BUUNK, MASSAR and DIJKSTRA 2007;DIJKSTRA and BUUNK 2002). While throughout human history, men have competed more in the domains of status, resources, and dominance, women tend to compete more in the domains of physical attractiveness (e.g., CASHDAN 1998;DIJKSTRA and BUUNK 2002). For example, when confronted with highly attractive rivals, women tend to "dislike" such a rival, particularly when she makes intrasexual competition salient, such as when she is conversing with a male (BAENNINGER, BAENNINGER and HOULE 1993).…”