Jealousy makes evolutionary sense - but makes you blind

Research: Jealousy makes sense in evolutionary terms

05/04/2012

Jealousy is a difficult issue in many relationships, because if it dominates in a partnership, it can destroy it. German scientists have now demonstrated on the basis of animal observations that jealousy makes evolutionary biological sense.

Even animals are jealous
Disproportionate jealousy can become a relationship killer. Animals use this feeling to secure their own position within a group. Meanwhile, experts seem to realize that jealousy makes evolutionary sense. In the journal „Animal Behavior“ Recently, a study was published on the topic of two zoologists at the Universities of Regensburg and Greifswald.

Konstanze Krüger and her colleague Gudrun Schneider observed for their study four groups of feral horses with a total of 84 esperia ponies in the Italian Abruzzo. It turned out that above all hierarchically elevated mares always intervened when group members to whom they had close contact, other horses „beknabberten“. „Nibble“ is a sign of affection among horses. The high-ranking mares shooed the competitors away and „beknabberten“ then even with the animal close to them. The mare's reaction was always to the stranger and not the social partner. The researchers concluded that it is beneficial for hierarchically raised horses to keep their social partners within the group of other animals.

„This is about resources - the number of social partners that can defend additional resources and descendants and secure their position in the hierarchy of the group“, reports Konstanze Kruger. „The high-ranking mares want to prevent without great effort and without too high a risk that their lower social partners can migrate to other horses.“ Partnerships and social contacts are among animals a strategy to secure common resources, to keep the hierarchy within the group stable and to ward off attacks by enemies.

Men and women are different jealous
Jealousy is genetically engineered. However, women and men differ in their jealousy. Psychologists from the University of Sunderland in England could prove this a few years ago. It turned out that men were especially jealous when the partner had sexual contacts with other men.

Women, however, the emotional aspect is much more important. „Men want to know if their rivals were in bed well“, summarizes study leader George Brase „First and foremost, women want to know if their partner loves another woman or not.“ This difference is easy to explain. While men can never be sure whether they raise their own children or those of another, so-called cuckoo children, it is in the nature of the matter that women do not have to worry about it. Rather, they are looking for a permanent partner who can feed the family. Evolutionarily, sex is therefore not the top priority for women.

Not only the evolution but also the cultural background plays a crucial role in the expression of the jealousy, as the British study showed. It turned out that Brazilian men were the most jealous. Japanese, on the other hand, showed the least jealousy. The scientists explained this imbalance by saying that fertility played a much more subordinate role in Japanese culture than in Brazil.

Love and jealousy "make you blind"
US psychologists from the University of Delaware published their study results in the journal „emotion“. Thus, not only love but also jealousy blind. For the investigations, the researchers set pairs in the same room to different computers. The women had the task to identify different goals in pictures. Emotionally unpleasant images displayed in between should be ignored. At the same time, landscapes were shown to the men whose beauty they should rate. However, to artificially provoke jealousy among women, they were told that their husbands look at photos of other women judging by their attractiveness. Subsequently, the study participants should report how uncomfortable it was for them that the partner had judged other women. It turned out that the stronger the jealousy, the women were the more disturbed. Some could not even recognize the target objects in the pictures.

What helps against jealousy?
Psychologists advise sufferers in exaggerated jealousy to first say themselves that there is no reason for mistrust. In addition, discussions with the partner help to get this certainty. However, this does not always succeed. Some sufferers know from the head that they have no cause for jealousy, but still can not hide the negative feelings. Jealousy should try to push aside all negative thoughts.

In more serious cases, the consultation of a therapist is necessary. This is the case, for example, when an affected person can think of nothing else, spying on his partner and trying to control him. This is not a normal form of jealousy, reports Gritli Bertram, social worker from Hanover. In particularly bad cases, it could even lead to violence between the partners. Therefore, it is advisable, already at the first sign of pathological jealousy, to consult a specialist. Often, oversized fears of loss and low self-esteem would be behind it, explains the expert. (Ag)

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