Romantic jealousy seems to have a gender divide when it comes to cheating. Men typically ask more questions about the sexual aspects of an affair while women inquire more about emotional infidelity, a new study at the University of Scranton finds. The study used the reality TV show “Cheaters” to explore jealousy-fueled interrogations of infidelity. Researchers viewed 102 cases of “love triangle” confrontations between the cheater, the victim, and the person they were fooling around with. They analyzed whether a victim’s comments to the two-timer represented sexual jealousy or emotional jealousy. The research found that when men were the victims of infidelity, 57% of the questions to the cheating partner focused on the sexual aspects of the affair. Women only asked about the intimate details 29% of the time. And when the ladies were the victims, 71% of their questions centered on the emotional side of their mate’s fling, versus 43% of men’s inquiries.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cheater, Cheater
Romantic jealousy seems to have a gender divide when it comes to cheating. Men typically ask more questions about the sexual aspects of an affair while women inquire more about emotional infidelity, a new study at the University of Scranton finds. The study used the reality TV show “Cheaters” to explore jealousy-fueled interrogations of infidelity. Researchers viewed 102 cases of “love triangle” confrontations between the cheater, the victim, and the person they were fooling around with. They analyzed whether a victim’s comments to the two-timer represented sexual jealousy or emotional jealousy. The research found that when men were the victims of infidelity, 57% of the questions to the cheating partner focused on the sexual aspects of the affair. Women only asked about the intimate details 29% of the time. And when the ladies were the victims, 71% of their questions centered on the emotional side of their mate’s fling, versus 43% of men’s inquiries.
