The evolutionary basis of sex differences in identifying the intentional object of romantic jealousy: a cross-cultural replication.

Abstract

This investigation is about studying the intentional object of romantic jealousy using the controversial evolutionary psychological approach which has made headway into understanding the intentional object of romantic jealousy. The point of departure of this study however is that the potential of using evolutionary findings to better understand romantic jealousy rests on testing if it is a reliable observation. Thus, grounded on an evolutionary psychological theoretical framework, this study employed replication research methodology to investigate the replicability of a study by Schutzwohl (2008) about the intentional object of romantic jealousy in a bid to test the consistency of the findings on a sample of university students in South Africa. For the findings which replicated, a chi square test for independence showed that there is a sex difference in the intentional object of romantic jealousy between males and females under the conditions of sexual infidelity (χ2 = 4.806; df = 1; n = 202; p < 0.05) and emotional infidelity (χ2 = 8.596; df = 1; n = 97; < 0.05), further confirming that males direct the intentional object of romantic jealousy to their partner under the condition of sexual infidelity(χ2 = 8.345; df = 1; p < 0.05; p= .004). The finding which did not replicate for this sample, the chi square test for independence showed that the intentional object of romantic jealousy of females is not the rival, when their partner is emotionally unfaithful to them (χ2 = 1.573; df = 1, p > 0.05, p= .210). Although evolutionary psychology has made significant advancements to help understand the intentional object and romantic jealousy, it remains necessary to improve the quality of data used to test evolutionary predictions about the intentional object of romantic jealousy in order to yield appropriate data that adequately tests the predictions. Future research in evolutionary psychology, the intentional object of romantic jealousy, and the use of replication research design for evolutionary psychological studies is recommended.