Previous research has documented relationships between (1) female sexual infidelity and men’s non-violent mate retention behaviors, and (2) men’s non-violent mate retention behaviors and partner-directed violence. In the two studies, we examined two additional relationships: (1) the relationship between accusations of female sexual infidelity and men’s partner-directed violence and (2) whether ...

Research has suggested that men are especially bothered by evidence of their partner's sexual infidelity, whereas women are troubled more by evidence of emotional infidelity. One evolutionary account {Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992) argties that this is an innate difference, arising from men's need for paternity certainty and women, s need for male investment in their offspring. We su...

When asked to choose which would be most upsetting, a mate’s sexual or emotional infidelity, past research has demonstrated that men are more likely than women to choose sexual infidelity, whereas women are more likely than men to choose emotional infidelity. Explanation of this sex difference has been controversial. In the current study we attempted to replicate previous research by examining ...

Young men are more distressed by a partner's sexual infidelity, whereas young women are more distressed by a partner's emotional infidelity. The present research investigated (a) whether the sex difference in jealousy replicates in an older sample, and (b) whether younger people differ from older people in their selection of the more distressing infidelity scenario. We presented forced-choice d...

We examined between-sex differences and within-sex differences in jealousy in response to a romantic partner s sexual and emotional infidelity. In addition to replicating established sex differences in jealousy, we investigated a potential trigger for within-sex differences in jealousy. We hypothesized that men will be more distressed by sexual infidelity and women will be more distressed by em...

Past demonstrations of sex differences in jealousy have generally employed Buss et al.’s [Psychol. Sci. 3 (1992) 251] forced-choice methodology, a limitation criticized by DeSteno and Salovey [Psychol. Sci. 7 (1996) 367]. The present studies address this criticism by demonstrating the sex difference using both forced-choice and continuous measures of jealousy. In addition, the results distingui...

We tested the prediction derived from the evolutionary view of jealousy that men preferentially recall cues to sexual infidelity, whereas women preferentially recall cues to emotional infidelity. This preferential recall was predicted to be more pronounced in a personally more threatening than in a personally less threatening context condition. In the personally less threatening context conditi...