University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jan;4(1):20-26. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0654-y. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
Long-lasting, romantic partnerships are a universal feature of human societies, but almost as ubiquitous is the risk of instability when one partner strays. Jealous response to the threat of infidelity is well studied, but most empirical work on the topic has focused on a proposed sex difference in the type of jealousy (sexual or emotional) that men and women find most upsetting, rather than on how jealous response varies. This stems in part from the predominance of studies using student samples from industrialized populations, which represent a relatively homogenous group in terms of age, life history stage and social norms. To better understand variation in jealous response, we conducted a 2-part study in 11 populations (1,048 individuals). In line with previous work, we find a robust sex difference in the classic forced-choice jealousy task. However, we also show substantial variation in jealous response across populations. Using parental investment theory, we derived several predictions about what might trigger such variation. We find that greater paternal investment and lower frequency of extramarital sex are associated with more severe jealous response. Thus, partner jealousy appears to be a facultative response, reflective of the variable risks and costs of men's investment across societies.
长久而浪漫的伴侣关系是人类社会的普遍特征，但当一方出轨时，关系不稳定的风险几乎同样普遍。对不忠威胁的嫉妒反应已经得到了充分的研究，但大多数关于这个主题的实证工作都集中在男性和女性最感到不安的嫉妒类型（性嫉妒或情感嫉妒）上的性别差异上，而不是嫉妒反应的变化。这部分是由于大多数研究使用的是来自工业化人口的学生样本，这些样本在年龄、生活史阶段和社会规范方面相对同质。为了更好地理解嫉妒反应的变化，我们在 11 个人群（1048 人）中进行了两项研究。与之前的工作一致，我们在经典的强制性选择嫉妒任务中发现了强烈的性别差异。然而，我们也发现了不同人群之间的嫉妒反应存在很大差异。我们使用父母投资理论，得出了一些关于可能引发这种变化的预测。我们发现，更多的父爱投资和更低的婚外性行为频率与更严重的嫉妒反应有关。因此，伴侣嫉妒似乎是一种适应性反应，反映了男性在不同社会中投资的可变风险和成本。
