Jealousy in Close Relationships From an Evolutionary and Cultural Perspective: Responding to Real and Feared Rivals

Jealousy occurs when one feels an actual or potential intimate relationship is threatened by a real or imagined rival. This chapter shows that the psychological experience of jealousy is associated with physical and hormonal characteristics. Particularly, the focus is on the distinction between possessive jealousy and reactive jealousy in humans and other species. Possessive jealousy is a preventive reaction that often results in mate guarding. Among human males, possessive jealousy aims to prevent investment in offspring sired by another male, whereas among human females, it seems to have evolved to obtain and preserve the investment of males in offspring and for disease avoidance. Possessive jealousy is related to cultural factors, such as parental control of mate choice, life history (in particular attachment style and father absence), and domestic violence. Regarding reactive jealousy (i.e., the responses to actual sexual and emotional intimacy with a third person), we discuss sex differences in emotional versus sexual jealousy, how reactive jealousy is experienced, and the variables to which it is related. Jealousy implies by definition a rival, and assessing the threat of a rival is a basic, adaptive mechanism rooted in intrasexual competition. This aspect of jealousy may also occur when one has not yet established a relationship but is trying to obtain a mate. In the context of the evaluation of rivals, we focus in particular on sex differences and similarities in the rival characteristics that evoke jealousy among heterosexual, homosexual, and transgender men and women.