Priming of AIDS and Reactions to Infidelity: Are Sex Differences in Jealousy Context-Dependent?

In: Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, Band 35, Heft 3, S. 107-114

Abstract

Abstract: Context effects on men's and women's reactions to infidelity were studied in a laboratory experiment. University students (71 male, 54 female) were randomly assigned to either a neutral-priming control condition or a condition where AIDS was primed unobtrusively. Then they reported whether emotional or sexual infidelity of their partner would distress them more, and rated their degree of distress for each type of infidelity. Men (vs. women) reported greater distress in response to sexual (vs. emotional) infidelity in the neutral-priming condition, whereas no sex differences were observed in the AIDS-priming condition. Most participants were unaware of the priming. The results are discussed in relation to evolutionary and socio-cultural explanations of sex differences in jealousy.