EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS OF SEX-DIFFERENCES IN JEALOUSY - QUESTIONING THEFITNESS OF THE MODEL

Evolutionary psychology has become a popular framework for studying je alousy. Much of this popularity can be attributed to work by Buss and his colleagues showing an apparent relation between an individual's se x and jealousy for certain types of infidelity (i.e., sexual vs. emoti onal) that is consistent with evolutionary theory (Buss, Larsen, Weste n, & Semmelroth, 1992). In two studies, we take issue with these findi ngs and argue that the relation between sex and jealousy reported by B uss and his colleagues is more properly explained by considering indiv iduals' beliefs concerning the covariation between sexual and emotiona l infidelity.