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Review • Jealousy and monogamy

12 November 2024
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Jealousy is an emotion that has been extensively studied, particularly in the context of monogamous couples. As such, jealousy is often associated with an image of a triangle representing both members of the couple, and a third person perceived as the ‘rival’. In reality, however, this is a far more complex process consisting of components that are not only restricted to just the emotional sphere, but also the cognitive and behavioural. 

This review includes studies that have considered the origins of jealousy in explanations of this complex  emotion using neurobiological hypotheses, among others. In general, jealousy is often perceived as problematic and therefore analyzed as requiring a change in the person displaying this emotion. Originally, jealousy was studied through the binary lens of “biological sex”: theories considered that jealousy in men differed systematically from jealousy in women. For example, one hypothesis based on evolutionary theories proposes that, in a heterosexual monogamous couple, the man will be jealous if their partner is emotionally disloyal, while the woman would, in turn, be jealous in the presence of sexual infidelity. In recent studies, jealousy is explored in a more nuanced way and using a social constructivist perspective.

Some researchers have explored the question of whether jealousy differs in monogamous couples depending on sexual orientation. Moreover, a number of studies have compared the experience and the levels of jealousy between monogamous couples and configurations of consensual non-monogamy (e.g, polyamory).

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jealousy, couple, monogamy, monogamous, faithfulness, unfaithfulness, emotion, bonding, relation satisfaction

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