We call infidelity both when our partner has sexual relations with another person, whether or not the emotions are involved, and when they establish a close emotional relationship with someone, even if they do not have sex. But, do men and women react in the same way to both types of infidelity that we will call sexual infidelity and emotional infidelity?
A study with more than 1,000 participants developed by scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has revealed that no: we both react differently to infidelity. Among the conclusions of the study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences , it stands out that, while men give more importance to sexual infidelity, women give it to emotional infidelity.
Why does this happen? “ The psychology of men and women is similar in most areas – but not when it comes to reproduction, ” explains study leader Mons Bendixen. And it is that the roots of cultural gender roles and evolutionary psychology are involved in these reactions.
For the experiment, participants were randomly given one of 4 versions of a questionnaire about jealousy; The experts asked half of the respondents to mark which aspect of infidelity bothered them the most , sexual or emotional in different settings. The remaining 500 participants had to rate these scenarios with a number on a scale from 1 (it doesn’t bother me at all) to 7 (it bothers me a lot).
“ As in two of our previous studies, we found clear sexual differences in jealousy responses among those who had to choose which aspect of infidelity was most upsetting to them. We also found similar sex differences when a continuous measurement paradigm was used. These differences were remarkable , as they were obtained using two alternative measurement methods, and in a highly egalitarian nation with a high expectation of parental investment such as Norway, ”said Bendixen.
