Social Comparison in Romantic Jealousy

Abstract

Past research has shown that jealous people tend to denigrate their rivals in order to preserve a positive self-evaluation. The present two studies investigated whether derogation of the rival is always a consequence of a social comparison with the rival. It was hypothesized that jealous people would derogate their rivals only on attributes that they perceive to be important to their partners; however, jealous people would evaluate their rivals as having attractive characteristics on attributes perceived to be less important to their partners. Undergraduates rated themselves, their partners, their rivals, and their partners' rivals (i.e., persons of whom their partners were jealous) on personality attributes that were either very important or less important to themselves and to their partners. Results indicated that the rivals and the partners' rivals were negatively evaluated on very important dimensions, but were seen as at least equally attractive on less important attributes. The plausibility of a self-esteem explanation, sex differences, and the functions of social comparison are discussed.