Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper
Jealousy is an emotional response to the threat of losing a valued relationship. In this research, we revisit the proposal that jealousy in friendship is an evolved response to the threat of someone else replacing what is unique in this kind of relationship. Burkett (2009) found that most people ide...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
2022-11-01
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Series: | Psykhe |
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Online Access: | https://ojs.uc.cl/index.php/psykhe/article/view/38635 |
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author | Ana María Fernández Belén Castro Pablo Molina Leda Cosmides Brandy Burkett |
author_facet | Ana María Fernández Belén Castro Pablo Molina Leda Cosmides Brandy Burkett |
author_sort | Ana María Fernández |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Jealousy is an emotional response to the threat of losing a valued relationship. In this research, we revisit the proposal that jealousy in friendship is an evolved response to the threat of someone else replacing what is unique in this kind of relationship. Burkett (2009) found that most people identify mental coordination—responding to the world as you do—as the feature that makes their best friend uniquely valuable to them. We presented 305 Chilean participants with one of three hypothetical conditions, in which their best friend: i) spent most of their time with a new friend, ii) shared mental coordination with a new friend, or iii) spent most of their time and shared mental coordination with a new friend. We replicated the expected effect in this novel context: Friendship jealousy was evoked more strongly by the threat of losing mental coordination with a friend than by just losing time spent with them, and friendship jealousy was higher for women than to men. We discuss the implications of these findings in order to understand friendships evolutionary basis and psychology, as well as other close relationships, and other types of non-pathological jealousy. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:26:43Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-f12c598a9388436ab476e76a387bc8f6 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 0718-2228 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:26:43Z |
publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
publisher | Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile |
record_format | Article |
series | Psykhe |
spelling | doaj.art-f12c598a9388436ab476e76a387bc8f62023-07-04T16:41:36ZengPontificia Universidad Católica de ChilePsykhe0718-22282022-11-0110.7764/psykhe.2021.3863534539Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an InterloperAna María Fernández0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4132-5891Belén Castro1Pablo Molina2Leda Cosmides3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1197-7824Brandy Burkett4Laboratorio de Evolución y Relaciones Interpersonales, Universidad de Santiago de ChileLaboratorio de Evolución y Relaciones Interpersonales, Universidad de Santiago de ChileLaboratorio de Evolución y Relaciones Interpersonales, Universidad de Santiago de ChileUniversity of Califronia, Santa BarbaraPsychological Sciences Department, College of William and MaryJealousy is an emotional response to the threat of losing a valued relationship. In this research, we revisit the proposal that jealousy in friendship is an evolved response to the threat of someone else replacing what is unique in this kind of relationship. Burkett (2009) found that most people identify mental coordination—responding to the world as you do—as the feature that makes their best friend uniquely valuable to them. We presented 305 Chilean participants with one of three hypothetical conditions, in which their best friend: i) spent most of their time with a new friend, ii) shared mental coordination with a new friend, or iii) spent most of their time and shared mental coordination with a new friend. We replicated the expected effect in this novel context: Friendship jealousy was evoked more strongly by the threat of losing mental coordination with a friend than by just losing time spent with them, and friendship jealousy was higher for women than to men. We discuss the implications of these findings in order to understand friendships evolutionary basis and psychology, as well as other close relationships, and other types of non-pathological jealousy.https://ojs.uc.cl/index.php/psykhe/article/view/38635close relationshipscooperationrivalryjealousymental coordination |
spellingShingle | Ana María Fernández Belén Castro Pablo Molina Leda Cosmides Brandy Burkett Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper Psykhe close relationships cooperation rivalry jealousy mental coordination |
title | Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper |
title_full | Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper |
title_fullStr | Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper |
title_full_unstemmed | Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper |
title_short | Experimental Induction of Friendship Jealousy: Comparing the Effects of Time versus Mental Coordination with an Interloper |
title_sort | experimental induction of friendship jealousy comparing the effects of time versus mental coordination with an interloper |
topic | close relationships cooperation rivalry jealousy mental coordination |
url | https://ojs.uc.cl/index.php/psykhe/article/view/38635 |
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