Distress in response to emotional and sexual infidelity: evidence of evolved gender differences in Spanish students.
The authors studied gender differences in response to hypothetical infidelity in Spanish students. Using a forced-choice methodology, the authors asked a sample of 266 participants to indicate which kind of infidelity would be more distressing: emotional or sexual. Men were significantly more distressed by sexual infidelity than were women, and women were significantly more distressed by emotional infidelity than were men. Results supported the hypothesis that particular infidelity types, which resemble adaptive problems that human beings faced in the past, contribute to the psychology of jealousy. The results are consistent with previous cross-cultural research.
Fernandez
Ana Maria
AM
Escuela de Psicología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Avenida Ecuador 3650, tercer piso, Santiago, Chile. anfernan@usach.cl
Vera-Villarroel
Pablo
P
Sierra
Juan Carlos
JC
Zubeidat
Ihab
I
D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013030:Spain; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People