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Jealousy in relationships essay
Behavioral jealousy
An essay on jealousy
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Behavioral jealousy are actions that occur between an individual who is experiencing envious thoughts and how they internalize and react to the stimuli. Pfeiffer and Wong (1989) “conceptualize jealous behaviors as the detective/protective measures a person takes when relationship rivals (real or imaginary) are perceived. Detective actions include questioning, checking up on the partner, and searching the partner’s belongings” (p.183). Research suggests that behavioral jealousy is used to maintain relationships. Relationship maintenance refers to either positive or negative behaviors that occur between two individuals in order to maintain a healthy communicative balance. Dainton and Gross (2008) specifically discuss the repercussions that negative behaviors such as jealousy induction may have on relationship maintenance. For instance utilizing negative maintenance behaviors such as jealousy to react to a relationship is negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. This research is tied in with the idea of social support and how individual respond to their partners. Researchers agree that jealousy in relationships can have a negative impact, yet also enhance romantic feelings and satisfaction based on how jealousy is initially communicated (Dainton & Gross, 2008; Yoshimura, 2004). “An essential idea behind this study is that the ways in which jealous individuals communicate their jealousy influence how the target communicatively responds. The results showed that targets of jealousy expressions most strongly respond in the style of the initial expression” (Yoshimura, 2004, p. 95). The way jealousy is expressed initially based on attitude and mood can affect the response of the partner and at shaping and guiding the relat... ... middle of paper ... ...e a parallel correlation from offline jealousy behaviors. Groothof, Dijkstra, and Barelds (2009) suggest that “as for offline acts of infidelity, men compared to women are more upset by a mates sexual infidelity over the Internet, whereas women, more than men, are more upset by a mate’s emotional infidelity over the Internet” (p.1126). Research also suggests that besides socio-cultural and evolutionary jealousy based on gender differentiation; further research should focus on individual’s cognitive social perspective pertaining to jealousy emotion. Harris (2002) suggest that “individuals clearly vary in their susceptibility to feelings of jealousy…the degree of jealousy will be determined by the appraisals people make regarding the seriousness of a threat” (p.11). With that said, further research on sexual jealousy triggers should be further investigated.
For example, Tom, a married man, comes across a woman who is able to satisfy desires that his current spouse unable to provide for. He even shows his mistress off in front of his wife and family. What would possess someone to be so disrespectful and spiteful? It’s difficult to rationalize and make sense of such actions, but the decay of marriage and increasing divorce rates have been greatly increasing trends throughout the past century.
Retrieved January 25, 2014, from http://www.secureteen.com/parenting-style/new-blended-family-keep-your-child%E2%80%99s-personality-intact/ Sollod, R. N., Wilson, J. P., & Monte, C. F. (2009). Defending Against Envy: The Most Deadly of Sins. Beneath the Mask; an introduction to theories of personality (p. 233). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. (Original work published 2003).
Jealousy is an emotional state that erupts when a valued relationship is being threatened (Buss et al., 1992). Men and women both express jealousy tendencies when they feel their romantic relationships are being threatened. Many researchers have studied sex differences in romantic jealousy to investigate at what particular time do men and women feel the most distressed or jealous. For instance, Bus et al. (1992) and Harris and Christenfeld (1996), found that men feel more distressed when they think their romantic partner is engaging in sexual infidelity, whereas women feel more distressed when they think their romantic partner is emotionally attached to someone else. These findings may be very insightful and useful to many of us who experience jealousy episodes; but importantly, it will allow us to investigate the validity of the evolutionary theory that is used to explain most sex differences. In the following paragraphs, I will describe the evolutionary theory that explains sex differences in jealousy and four related empirical studies. Lastly, I will
Whereas emotional jealousy is elicited from the threat of emotional infidelity, that is any form of unfaithfulness that involves a romantic connection and doesn’t necessarily entail the physical act of cheating (Levy, Kelly, & Jack, 2006). It is widely believed that men and women respond differently to infidelity in the way they think and act (Buss, Larsen, Westen & Semmelroth, 1992; Takahashi et al., 2006; Walum et al., 2013). Past research has found that women tend to report more intense emotions in response to infidelity in general compared to men (Sagarin & Guadagno, 2004). It states that due to female fertilisation, males are threatened by a reduction in reproductive success and females are threatened by resource withdrawal (Levy, Kelly, & Jack, 2006; Walum et al., 2013).
Research is growing to find if there is a difference among men and women when perceiving jealousy. Specifically emotional reactions to a romantic partner's infidelity, with men showing higher levels jealousy by a partner's sexual infidelity and women showing higher levels by a partner's emotional infidelity (Bailey, Gaulin, Agyei, and Gladue, 1994; Buss, Larsen, Weston, and Semmekoth, 1992; Buunk, Angleitner, Oubaid, and Buss, 1996). However, there is an ongoing discussion as how best to interpret these gender differences, with theorists falling largely into one of the groups: 1) those that view jealousy as an evolved sexual adaptive solution of paternal uncertainty and 2) those who view jealousy as a common social cognition emotion. The central difference in the groups is that those in the first group’s focus is on distal explanations of jealousy while those in the second group’s focus on proximal explanations of jealousy. Furthermore, the groups differ in their apprehension of how the mind works, with those in the first group adopting a modular view (Toobey and Cosmides,1992) and those in the second group adopting a general processor view.
...irections and implications. In a future study, a satisfaction questionnaire could be included to examine a participant’s current marital satisfaction prior to exposure to their condition. A study should be conducted using an older sample of male participants in order to see if results would be different as a result of the decreased levels of testosterone in that age group. In addition, future researchers should consider investigating homosexuality, testosterone, and infidelity. There is no research that address homosexuality, testosterone. and infidelity. As such, future research should explore these aspects. Research dedicated to biological reasons for infidelity is an important and necessary contribution to reduce the worldwide epidemic of divorce. Understanding the effect (effect or affect?) testosterone has on infidelity is another step in this process.
jealousy as an excuse for beating their wives; violence became a way for husbands to
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
The husband’s inability to trust his wife fuels his inability to communicate with his wife because he thinks that she will lie to him just like he suspects her of doing with other men. The husband’s jealousy fuels the mistrust between him and his wife to a point where he does not feel like he
Psychological Egoism is a claim that one’s own welfare is the governing aim that guides us in every action. This would mean that every action and decisions humans make come with an intention for self-benefit, and personal gain. The fundamental idea behind psychological egoism is that our self-interest is the one motive that governs human beings. This idea may be so deep within our morals and thought process that although one may not think selfishly, the intention of their action is representing to a degree of personal gains.
To understand and judge the effects of jealousy in relationships we must first analyze where it comes from. To begin with, "jealousy occurs as a result of a perceived threat to an existing relationship" (Aune). This means that the person who becomes jealous feels that their standing with the other person is threatened in some way. The causes of these feelings of vulnerability can stem from a variety of sources depending on the sex, experiences, and general disposition of the person. Owens points out that one common misconception on the cause or reason for jealousy from the recipient's point of view is that "If you're jealous, it must mean you love me." Owens also notes that jealousy is more often a "reflection of other things like the person's need to control …fear of being alone, or poor self esteem" (qtd. in Jet 2002).
As a child you are introduced to many thing and one of those things is jealousy. Growing up i had a cousin who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and because of that he was treated differently from the rest of us. As a kid i didn't understand how important his condition was or why he was treated like royalty. Now as an adult I understand that he...
This article, “An Examination of Potential Attractions of Women’s Marital Infidelity,” was published in 2014 in The American Journal of Family Therapy. The purpose of the article is to examine the process of infidelity and the steps that women take in order to cheat on their spouses. The question regarding what defines infidelity is widely debated in today’s world, particularly with the growth and use of technology. Because marital infidelity is on the rise, this article serves to examine the reasons that it occurs in order to help solve the problem. Women were interviewed about the process of infidelity and reported that three factors largely influenced their behavior. These factors that contribute to cheating are the developing of an extramarital
Whitty. M. T (2005), The Realness of Cybercheating: Men’s and Women’s Representations of Unfaithful Internet Relationships. Social Science Computer Review [Online] 23 (1) p. 57-67.