تفاوت جنسی در واکنش به خیانت جنسی در مقابل خیانت عاطفی: نقش تعدیل کننده تفاوت های فردی

Numerous studies indicate that men (compared to women) tend to display relatively greater distress in response to sexual infidelity, whereas women (compared to men) tend to display relatively greater distress in response to emotional infidelity. The current research builds upon this literature by examining the role individual differences in chronic jealousy play in moderating these sex differences. Findings demonstrate that sex differences in responses to sexual versus emotional infidelity are substantially greater among individuals high in chronic jealousy – individuals who frequently tend to worry about potential relationship threats – than among individuals low in chronic jealousy. This research highlights the importance of integrating a focus on individual differences with evolutionary theories of social cognition.

An all-too-common misconception about evolutionary psychological theories is that they pertain only to universals – behaviors and mental processes that are consistent across all individuals or members of a sex – without taking into account the role of individual differences. This belief may persist in part because, compared to the vast literature on human universals, relatively few evolutionarily inspired studies have focused on the important role individual differences play in shaping adaptive psychological processes. In the current research, we focus on the role individual differences in chronic jealousy play in shaping a phenomenon studied widely by evolutionary psychologists: sex differences in reactions to infidelity.

Many scientists (and popular science outlets) portray evolutionary perspectives as implying a psychology based on inflexible, genetically determined processes that operate in identical fashion across all people and all situations. The current research highlights the fallacy of this portrayal, and illustrates the utility of integrating evolutionary approaches with a focus on individual differences. From an evolutionary perspective, individual differences play an important role in determining how and when adaptive psychological mechanisms are expressed. Indeed, findings from the current study suggest that individual differences in chronic jealousy moderate the expression of adaptive jealousy mechanisms. The continued integration of evolutionary approaches with theories of individual differences provides a fertile ground for future empirical work and will help researchers achieve a more complete picture of the human mind.