Evidence from a homosexual sample for a sex-specific rival-oriented mechanism: Jealousy as a function of a rival's physical attractiveness and dominance

Among heterosexual women in particular. a rival's physical attractiveness e vokes jealousy, whereas among heterosexual men in particular. a rival's dom inance evokes feelings of jealousy. The present study conducted with gay me n and lesbian women examined whether these sex-differentiated responses ref lect an evolved sex-specific rival-oriented mechanism according to which ma les and females pay attention to different rival characteristics or an evol ved general partner-oriented mechanism, according to which males and female s pay attention to those characteristics that their actual and potential pa rtners find important. In an experiment, using a 2 (Participant Sex) X 2 (R ival Physical Attractiveness) X 2 (Rival Dominance) mixed factor design, ho mosexual participants were presented with a scenario in which their partner s were flirting with an individual of the same sex. Lesbian women, but not gay men, reported more jealousy when they were exposed to a physically attr active rival as compared with a physically unattractive rival. Gay males, b ut not lesbian women, reported more jealousy when they were exposed to a ri val high in dominance as compared with a rival low in dominance, especially when exposed to a physically unattractive rival. In addition, among women high in dominance. a dominant rival evoked relatively less jealousy, and am ong women high in social comparison orientation, an unattractive rival evok ed relatively more jealousy. It is concluded that males and females posses an evolved sex-specific rival-oriented mechanism through which they respond more or less automatically to those rival characteristics that have been i mportant in sexual selection in our evolutionary past.