Jealousy

835 Words2 Pages

One of the studies I found talked about how men and women differ in confronting their significant other about extra-partner affairs. The author of this study, Barry X. Khule, had trained undergraduate students watch and code fifty-one episodes of the reality television show Cheaters (Khule, 2011). Individuals who believed they were being cheated on called the show and asked that the Cheater’s Detective Agency (CDA) follow their significant other around for weeks. Then, the CDA provided the victim with video surveillance footage to show whether or not their significant other had actually been cheating on them. The show then gave the victim a chance to confront the cheating mate. The confrontation was also videotaped as part of the show (Khule, 2011). The undergraduate students (coders) were specially trained to listen for key phrases as spoken by the victim (the individual in the show who was being cheated on) that signaled jealousy. Khule hypothesized, based on previous research that men who were being cheated on would be more concerned about the physical aspect of the cheating and would ask questions such as, “How many times have you had sex with him?” Women, he hypothesized, would be more concerned about the emotional aspect of the cheating and would ask questions such as, “Do you love her?” (Khule, 2011). Previous studies have been done on jealousy, but their methods relied on self-report of how participants thought they would feel if they found out their mate had been cheating on them or self-report methods of how participants felt in retrospect of having been cheated on. Khule’s method was different. Instead of relying on what someone thought they would have done, or trying to remember what they had already said and done, K... ... middle of paper ... ...the other, and emotional scarring. My advice for coping with jealousy is that if you’re feeling jealous more than once a week, then the person you are with is probably not good for you. He or she may be intentionally making you jealous. If they are unaware that they are making you jealous, then calmly explain your feelings to your significant other and cite specific examples of times they made you feel jealous. Most importantly, though, don’t use a fighting tone when you talk to him or her. The talk will go much smoother if you remain calm throughout. Works Cited Buss, D. M., & Haselton, M. (2005, November). The evolution of jealousy. TRENDS in Cognitive Science, pp. 506-507. Khule, B. X. (2011, July 31). Did you have sex with him? Do you love her? An in vivo test of sex differences in jealous interrogations. Personality and Individual Differences, pp. 1044–1047.

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