Jealousy and Infidelity - studies

Buss et al (1992) 

Procedure
- Asked male and female students the question 'what would distress you more?'
'(a) imagining your mate having sexual intercourse with someone else'
or
'(b) imagining your mate forming a deep emotional attachment to someone else'

(a) represents a threat to paternity security
(b) represents a threat to domestic paternity

Findings

- 60% of men said A
- 80% of women said B
- 40 % of males who didn't choose A - most had never experienced a committed sexual relationship and therefore unlikely to experience sexual jealousy.
- Suggests even if there is an underlying evolutionary mechanism behind male sexual aggression, it is modified by experience.

Pipat

Pipat given a decrease sentence for killing his wife dye to his young children and a 'fit of jealousy'.