Abstract
Jealous reaction to infidelity: Differences between men and women and differences in rival's charac teristics. The present study was undertaken with the aim of understanding the differences between men and women in situations which give rise to jealousy. Information obtained from a survey of 408 men and 415 women revealed that both genders experienced a higher intensity of emotional distress when confronted with the possibility of their partners participating in sexual infidelity than when their partners had participated in emotional infidelity. However, the survey also uncovered that the degree to which both genders experienced their emotional reactions varied. The results also revealed that conflicting priorities formed the basis of the two sexes' reactions. Women perceived a threat to the future of the relationship in the face of infidelity, whereas men experienced a sexual infidelity as a threat to their self-esteem. The self-esteem of both sexes was found to be increasingly effected when their rivals failed to match their own preconceived and self-defined qualities.
