engleski

Changes in jealousy ratings in relation to rival's facial sexual dimorphism

Men, in comparison to women, manifest greater jealousy when it comes to their partner's sexual infidelity. On the other hand, women report higher levels of jealousy in case of a partner's emotional infidelity. Apart from the type of infidelity, jealousy ratings also depend on the rival's characteristics that may indicate their mate value. While women's mate value is mostly determined by fertility cues and physical attractiveness, men's mate value is related to their potentials of gaining and sharing resources. Previous studies have shown that higher sexual dimorphism in the human face (masculine men's face and feminine women's face) can serve as an indicator of mate value. Therefore, potential rivals with these desirable characteristics can evoke greater jealousy. Hence, the aim of the present study was to investigate differences in jealousy regarding participants' sex, infidelity type and rivals' facial sexual dimorphism. The study included 401 (164 male and 237 female) participants of early adult age from various study programmes and professions in Croatia. Photographs of either a male or female prototype face were presented as rivals via Psytoolkit in two versions - masculine and feminine. Jealousy was assessed by using hypothetical scenarios of emotional and sexual infidelity with masculine and feminine rivals. Participants reported their intensity of jealousy on a 7-point scale. Results showed that women generally reported more intense jealousy than men. Furthermore, women were more jealous than men in both situations of infidelity, but this sex difference was greater for the scenarios of emotional infidelity. Finally, while there was no difference in jealousy intensity in relation to rival's facial sexual dimorphism in men, women reported greater jealousy towards a rival with a feminine face.

jealousy, sexual dimorphism, rival, face attractiveness

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