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Sex Differences and the Effect of Rival Characteristics on Adults’ Judgments of Hypothetical Infidelity

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Abstract

Previous research has revealed the importance of assessing the influence of rival characteristics on sex differences in reports of romantic jealousy. However, no research has addressed how a hypothetical rival may influence sex differences in judgments of infidelity (i.e., the range of behaviors incorporated into an individual’s understanding of infidelity). Thus, the current study adopted evolutionary theory as a framework for examining whether differences in a hypothetical rivals’ sex, sexual orientation, physical attractiveness, financial status, age, and familiarity influenced male’s and female’s judgments of three categories of infidelity-related behavior (sexual/explicit, technology/online, and emotional/affectionate behaviors). A between-subject experimental design was employed by asking 390 US adults (200 males, 190 females) to report their judgments of infidelity to a variety of behaviors by assigning them to one of four conditions with which the characteristics of a hypothetical rival were manipulated. Our results indicated that, despite the influence of physical attractiveness and familiarity, characteristics associated with a hypothetical rival did not influence judgments of infidelity for either sex. These findings indicate that, because judgments are often formed very quickly, details pertaining to the rival are likely not incorporated during infidelity judgment formation. Implications for educators, practitioners, and researchers are discussed.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Faculty Development Program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI, 54901, USA

    Ashley E. Thompson, Caileigh N. Zimmerman, Danica Kulibert & Elle Moore

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  1. Ashley E. Thompson
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  2. Caileigh N. Zimmerman
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Correspondence to Ashley E. Thompson.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Additional Rival Characteristic Items

Standard Instructions:

“Please imagine your current or ex-partner engaging in the following behaviors with someone other than you despite being in a relationship with you at the time. Imagine this other individual is heterosexual (strictly sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex) and the same sex as yourself (for example, if you identify as female, the person would be a female who is attracted to males).”

Sexual/Explicit Behavior Instructions:

For each item, indicate to what extent you would think your partner was “unfaithful” on a scale from 1 (not at all unfaithful) to 7 (very unfaithful) if they engaged in sexually explicit behaviors (i.e., penile-vaginal intercourse, oral sex, touching someone’s genitals) with someone…”

Technology/Online Behavior Instructions:

“For each item, indicate to what extent you would think your partner was “unfaithful” on a scale from 1 (not at all unfaithful) to 7 (very unfaithful) if they engaged in online/technology behaviors (i.e., sending sexually explicit texts, masturbating with someone over webcam) with someone…”

Emotional/Affectionate Behavior Instructions:

“For each item, indicate to what extent you would think your partner was ‘unfaithful’ on a scale from 1 (not at all unfaithful) to 7 (very unfaithful) if they engaged in emotional/affectionate behaviors (i.e., giving and receiving close emotional support, sharing secrets, having a casual dinner) with someone…”

Physical Attractiveness

  1. 1.

    Someone more attractive than you?

  2. 2.

    Someone less attractive than you?

Financial Status

  1. 3.

    Someone who made more money than you?

  2. 4.

    Someone who made less money than you?

Age

  1. 5.

    Someone older than you?

  2. 6.

    Someone younger than you?

Familiarity

  1. 7.

    An ex-partner?

  2. 8.

    A friend?

  3. 9.

    A stranger?

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Thompson, A.E., Zimmerman, C.N., Kulibert, D. et al. Sex Differences and the Effect of Rival Characteristics on Adults’ Judgments of Hypothetical Infidelity. Evolutionary Psychological Science 3, 97–108 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-016-0076-2

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