Steno had participants complete the forced-choice measure under conditions known to favor the functioning of automatic, or ingrained, mental processes. Here, the gender difference usually found on the forced-choice disappeared; men and women both reported more distress to sexual infidelity as was the case on all the other measures.

"The theory that male and female jealousy is differentially aroused by specific kinds of infidelity threats has long been advocated by sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists," DeSteno said. "In direct contradiction to the evolutionary view, both men and women appear to experience more distress in response to sexual encounters outside the relationship than to emotional infidelities. And while we're not out to debunk every tenet held fast by evolutionary psychologists, this calls into question a large body of research that's been done looking at jealousy."

"Our findings challenge the empirical basis for the evolutionary theory of jealousy by demonstrating that evidence of a sex difference in distress to sexual and emotional infidelity represents, in all likelihood, a methodological artifact," he said. "It's not simply a matter of the brain being shaped by evolutionary pressures."

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Contact: Christine Phelan
c.phelan@neu.edu
617-373-5455
Northeastern University
8-Oct-2002

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