Sex Differences in Jealousy: Evolution or Social Construction?

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Abstract
Buss, Larsen, Westen, and Semmelroth claimed that sex differences in the dislike of sexual or emotional infidelity supported the socio-biological hypothesis of men (i.e., most men) having evolved sexual jealousy, whereas women (i.e., most women) evolved emotional jealousy. In two studies with 745 undergraduates, our finding was that, similar to the Buss et al. finding, over 50% of the men and women reported greater upset over imagined emotional infidelity. Subjects responded to a self-rating of jealousy, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, 39 items articulating gender norms, a request to explain their dislike of infidelity, and which of 8 excuses by the wayward partner was most upsetting. We proposed that the findings could be explained more parsimoniously by the concept of the social construc tion of gender and Eagly's social-role perspective.