Sex differences in jealousy

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Sex differences in jealousy

• For men, paternal uncertainty selected for
  greater jealousy in response to sexual infidelity
• For women, concern with paternal investment
  selected for greater jealousy in response to
  emotional infidelity

Daly, Wilson, Weghorst (1982) Symons (1979)
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Who cares?
Grrr
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Grrr
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Selection for sexual jealousy in men
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Forced-choice
Please think of a serious committed romantic
relationship that you have had in the past, that
you currently have, or that you would like to
have. Imagine that you discover that the person
with whom youve been seriously involved became
interested in someone else. What would distress
or upset you more (please circle only one) (A)
Imagining your partner forming a deep emotional
attachment to that person.(B) Imagining your
partner enjoying passionate sexual intercourse
with that other person.
Buss, Larsen, Westen, Semmelroth (1992)
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Buss et al. (1992) results
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Physiological evidence

• Women and men imagined a sexual infidelity and an
  emotional infidelity
• Electrodermal activity, pulse rate, and
  electromyographic activity were measured
• Men more reactive to sexual infidelity imagery
  than emotional infidelity imagery
• Women slightly more reactive to emotional
  infidelity imagery than sexual infidelity imagery

Buss, Larsen, Westen, Semmelroth (1992)
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Criticisms

• Results dont replicate when jealousy is assessed
  using continuous measures
• Reactions to hypothetical infidelity scenarios
  might not align with reactions to actual
  infidelity experiences

Harris (2002, 2003, 2005) Sagarin (2005)
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How jealous would you feel about your partner
forming a deep emotional attachment to that
person?
1Not at all jealous 2 3 4 5 6 7Extremely jealous
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Response

• Same pattern emerges (sometimes) when continuous
  measures are used
• Retrospective reports of actual infidelity
  experiences align with reactions to hypothetical
  infidelity scenarios

Sagarin, Becker, Guadagno, Nicastle, Millevoi
(2003)Edlund, Heider, Scherer, Farc, Sagarin
(2006)
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Criticism

• Physiological measures are ambiguous. Do they
  represent jealousy or something else?

Harris (2000)
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Response

• Harris criticism of the physiological data has
  not been addressed

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Measurement

• Dictionary definition The act or process of
  measuring
• Psychology and statistics textbooks
• My definition The attempt to accurately assess
  a construct of interest

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Construct An abstract concept
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Construct validityThe extent to which a
concrete manifestation of an abstract concept
(construct) is an accurate or true reflection of
the underlying construct(Aronson, Ellsworth,
Carlsmith, Gonzales, 1990, p. 346)
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Operational definitionThe definition of a
concept construct by means of specifying the
operations required to manipulate or measure the
concept.
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Types of Dependent Variables

• Verbal measures

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Questionnaires
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The Likert Scale
1)
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Stronglyagree
disagree
2)
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Stronglyagree
disagree
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How much do you agree with the following
statement?I am in good health
Strongly disagree Disagree Some-what disagree Neither agree nor disagree Some-what agree Agree Strongly agree
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How is your health?
Very poor Poor Some-what poor Fair Good Very good Excellent
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The Semantic Differential
Good ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Bad
Kind ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Cruel
Sour ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Sweet
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Interviews

• Participants may pay better attention
• Participants may be motivated to respond
  carefully
• Experimenter can clarify questions
• Experimenter can ask open-ended questions

• Problems?

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Types of Dependent Variables

• Verbal measures
• Behavioral measures
• Behavioroid measures
• Physiological measures
• Indirect measures

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Types of Dependent Variables

• Behavioral measures Measures of subjects
  concrete, actual behaviors in the experimental
  setting (e.g., level of shock administered to a
  confederate length of time subjects work to
  solve a puzzle number of times drivers honk
  their horns)
• Behavioroid measures Measures that require
  subjects to commit to a future behavior without
  actually having to perform it later (e.g., number
  of hours subjects agree to tutor a needy student
  number of questionnaires subjects commit to help
  a confederate score)Definitions from Aronson,
  Ellsworth, Carlsmith, and Gonzales (1990)

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Types of Dependent Variables

• Physiological measures Measures of such bodily
  processes as blood pressure, heart rate, and
  pupil dilation that are usually beyond the
  conscious control of subjects
• Indirect measures Measures for which the
  connection between the score itself and some
  other variable of interest involves some kind of
  hypothetical intervening process (e.g., recall
  errors as an indirect measure of attitudes
  reaction time as an indirect measure of depth of
  information processing)Definitions from
  Aronson, Ellsworth, Carlsmith, and Gonzales (1990)