Sex Differences in Jealousy By: Cynthia Hamidi Matt Ramirez Sidhant Srivastava

Background Males face a big problem o Females are fertilized internally o Gestation Question of Paternity o No risk of maternity for women Risks o Men Time, courtship, effort into relationship o Women Same as male, w/ added cost of survival & upbringing of children

Background (Continued) Jealousy o “ An emotional state that is aroused by a perceived threat to a valued relationship or position and motivates behavior aimed at countering the threat ” o An adaptive problem Hypothesis: Jealousy (sexual & emotional) differs in men & women

Study undergrad students 2 questions: conjuring images Results o Men o Women YOUR IN LOVE?! YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM?!

IMAGINE.... Seeing pictures of your spouse having sexual relations with someone else or...

Finding out your partner is madly in love with someone else

WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER?

Imagine the scenario that would hurt you most. Now, what is your first reaction anger or sadness?

So what is you’re first reaction? Kill your spouse? Kill their lover? Never speak to them again? Try and win back your partner. Call up your partner and scream at them? Publicly embarrass both parties? Subtweet the shit out of them? Hook up with your partner’s sibling or best friend ? Steal the other parties spouse? Slash their tires and key their car. Get drunk and hook up with someone else. ICE CREAM. EAT, SLEEP, & CRY. Burn any old gifts and delete all the pictures. Change your facebook status to single and ready to mingle.

Study 2 55 undergrad students o 32 males & 23 females Physiological Measures o Electrodermal activity (EDA), or unconscious arousal o Pulse rate o Muscle activity of brow region of face Corrugator supercilli – muscle responsible for frowning of brow linked with unpleasant emotions Results o Men: all three measures showed increased distress under sexual jealousy o Women: all three measures showed increased distress under emotional jealousy Exception: pulse rate – not as significant

It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re wife says switch seats.. you switch seats.

Study undergrad students o 133 men & 176 women Similar to Study 1 o Emphasis on men: difference between those who experienced a committed sexual relationship vs. those who hadn ’ t Results similar to Study 1 o Men who had experienced a committed sexual relationship showed even more distress under sexual jealousy than those who hadn ’ t

Conclusion Emotional infidelity may signal sexual infidelity (& vice versa) o Both sexes should become distressed either way Adaptive problem correlation Link to other study o Male sexual jealousy = leading cause of spousal abuse & homicide across all cultures worldwide Significant social impact on global scale

And if you still didn’t get it check out Beyonce’s song Jealous or Nick Jonas’ song Jealous And if you just need some comic relief check out this video to know the 3 types of jealous girlfriends:

Questions?