Psychology A Level Research Into Jealousy

Evaluation

2009-07-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

Evaluation

Strengths
I got an even mix of males and females so the results weren’t relevant to just males or just females.
The data I got was qualitative so it could explain why I got the results I did but it was not supported by factual information.
All participants gave their consent to take part and were debriefed so were not harmed during the experiment.

Weaknesses
· The sample was reasonably small so can only be generalised to Wellsway 6th form.
· The questionnaires were carried out in different environments so experiment was not standardised.
· The results may include social desirability bias because the participants may not have been completely truthful in their answers.
· The topic of research was very broad and I didn’t narrow it down enough so I didn’t get results for anything specific.

Conclusions

2009-07-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Conclusions

Jealousy occurs extremely often, even over very small things.
Jealousy can be responded to in eight different ways, as identified by Bryson.
The 3 strategies that Buunk identified as ways of coping with extra marital relationships can be applied to other forms of jealousy.
Participants said the best way of coping with jealousy is communication or analysing the situation.
There are many different forms of jealousy, but ultimately it’s because someone else seems better than you, whether of possessions, personality or looks.
Jealousy is connected with negative emotional feelings and generally the person feeling jealous feels like what they have isn’t good enough.
Jealousy occurs within most relationships and generally more between people with less trust. This can occur for many different reasons.
The main reason for people feeling jealous in a relationship is because they feel their partner is becoming too close with someone of the opposite sex.
The most common way of dealing with this is to talk about it, however, a substantial number of participants will ignore it and not do anything.

Analysis: Dealing With Jealousy

2009-07-13T06:32:00.001-07:00

13) How do you think you would deal with this?

The most common way of dealing with jealousy in a relationship is to talk to the partner; this is agreed amongst males and females. This is because talking is likely sort out any confusion that may have occurred, talking means the thoughts will be said aloud. When said aloud, thoughts generally make more sense as they are put into logical sentences.

Interestingly, quite a few males said that they would ignore it and do nothing but only one female. Quite a few females said that they wouldn’t do anything about it unless it gets worse. This shows a clear divide between the reactions both sexes show as females are more likely to actively do something about it.

Analysis: Jealousy Factors

2009-07-13T03:31:00.001-07:00

12) If in a relationship, what would make you jealous of your partner?

As shown very clearly in the pie charts, the most common thing that would make someone jealous of their partner is their partner being 'close to someone of the opposite sex'. This includes texting, meeting, and even chatting someone of the opposite sex a lot. There is a difference between males and females in that males have said that they get jealous of their partners possessions and their partners money, however females have said that they get jealous of their partner being close to someone of the opposite sex and their partners oppertunities.

Analysis: Causes Of Jealousy Within Relationships

2009-07-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

11) Why do you think jealousy occurs/what do you think is the cause of jealousy in relationships?

There are many causes of jealousy in relationships, according to my questionnaire, the most common one is lack of confidence. This includes feeling you’re not good enough for your partner, not attractive enough, not seeing why their partner wants to be with them etc. This comes from a feeling of insecurity and could mean that they are jealous that their partner is more confident or popular or attractive than them. It also means being jealous that someone ‘better’ might come along and take their partner away because they are better suited. This answer was more common amongst females. Another huge cause of jealousy in relationships is someone’s partner being close to or paying attention of someone of the opposite sex.

Analysis: Jealousy Within Relationships

2009-07-10T04:07:00.000-07:00

9) Do you think jealousy occurs in most, if not all relationships?

Results
Yes – 12
No – 8

Interestingly, out of the people than said no, 6 of them were male.

10) Do you think jealousy occurs more in a relationship between people with less trust?

Results
Yes – 16
No – 4

Analysis
There is a mixture of feelings about jealousy within relationships. This may be due to personal experiences or individual differences. However, 60% of participants said that they thought jealousy happens in most or all relationships, and even though 40% of people said that thought that jealousy does not occur within relationships, they still went on to identify things that would make them feel jealous of a partner, which shows conflicting results. From this, I believe that jealousy is an inevitable part of life and part of relationships.

80% of participants said that they thing jealousy occurs more in a relationship between people with less trust. This is a huge majority. I think this is because if there is less trust within a relationship they the individual may get more suspicious of their partner and what they are doing and who they are seeing. This could lead to wrong conclusions and therefore jealousy.

Analysis: Emotional Response To Jealousy

2009-07-10T03:56:00.001-07:00

8) What emotions do you feel when you are jealous?

The most common response to jealousy is feeling sad or unhappy. This is a lot more common in females. This supports the argument that females are more emotional than men and the picture that females are weaker and break down more easily. Interestingly, getting angry was the least common emotional response to jealousy. All of the responses participants have felt have been negative, portraying jealousy as a negative thing, even though it has been said earlier that jealousy leads to motivation.

Analysis: Types Of Jealousy

2009-07-10T03:43:00.000-07:00

7) There are many different types of jealousy. Please state the first 3 situations you can think of in which jealousy occurs?

As shown in this graph, there are many different types of jealousy but the most predominant amongst 16 and 17 year olds in jealousy experienced in a relationship where their partner is paying attention to someone of the opposite sex. This includes texting them or speaking to them a lot, flirting them or meeting people of the opposite sex and cheating. There is also an even spread of this amongst boys and girls.
The least common form of jealousy is feeling left out/not involved, this is also the same between males and females.
Overall there is a fairly even spread of the types of jealousy identified by males and females, however, girls are likely to get jealous over looks a lot more commonly that boys and boys will get jealous over luck and opportunities of others more commonly that girls.

Analysis: Best Way Of Coping With Jealousy

2009-07-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

6) Which of these ways do you think is the best with coping with jealousy?

Results
Analysing The Situation
M – 6 F – 6 TOTAL – 12 (60%)
Communication
M – 5 F – 6 TOTAL – 11 (55%)

(The other options; violence and avoidance were not chosen at all)

Analysis
This shows that people believe the best way of coping with jealousy is communication or thinking over the situation. Some people even picked both. Communication is also a form of going over the situation, I believe these have been chosen as the best ways of coping with jealousy because going over the situation logically makes people see it more clearly and can clear up any confusion or misunderstanding and communication helps people to be reassured.

Analysis: Ways Of Coping With Jealousy

2009-07-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

4) Think back to times when you have been jealous, have you done any of these things, even subconsciously?

5) Can this be applied to all situations or only a few?

Question 4 was relating to Buunks experiment on the ways people cope with spouses extramarital relationships. Buunk identified 3 strategies:
avoidance (of the spouse),
e.g. possibility of leaving the spouse and retreating
reappraisal (of the situation),
e.g. cognitive attempts to reduce one's jealousy which may include developing a critical attitude toward one's own jealousy as well as direct attempts to get the jealousy under control by relativizing the whole situation.
Communication.

Analysis:
I asked people if they used any of these strategies and then asked them the type of situations they can be applied to, this was to see if they are relevant for types of jealousy other than extramarital relationships. The results I obtained confirmed the 3 strategies Buunk identified, with reappraisal being the most common way of dealing with this.

Question 5 was asking the participants whether they thought these strategies could be applied to all forms of jealousy and this was what I found:

Results:
All – 12 (60%)
Most – 4 (20%)
Few – 4 (20%)

These were comments by participants:
- Depends on how jealous you are.
- Depends on what you’re jealous of e.g. this could be applied to jealousy in a relationship.
- All people are individual so act differently.
- Most can be discussed.

Analysis:
This showed the strategies Buunk identified as coping with jealousy can be applied to most forms of jealousy and is slightly obstructed by individual differences.

Analysis: Responses To Jealousy

2009-07-09T04:11:00.000-07:00

3) Do you respond to jealousy in any of these ways?

Analysis:

I used this question to check the research done by Jeff Bryson (1991), who identified eight modes of response:
- Emotional devastation,
- Reactive retribution (get even),
- Arousal (intensify ardor or interest in partner),
- Need for social support (more intensive interaction with friends),
- Intropunitiveness (blame and punish oneself for being jealous),
- Confrontation (confront the situation directly),
- Anger,
- Impression management (make others think don't care/get drunk or high).

The results show that people do respond to jealousy in all of these ways, impression management being the most common. One participant said that feeling jealous made themselves feel motivated to work harder.

Analysis: How often do you feel jealous of someone or something?

2009-07-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

(The Graph shows the results I obtained.)

2) How often do you feel jealous of someone or something?

Analysis:

40% of people that answered said that they felt jealous at least 2-3 times a week. This was the most common answer, however, I think that little things happen almost everyday that make people feel a little twinge of jealousy, even if it is barely noticeable. 50% of people said that they feel jealous less that once a week. I believe this is because jealousy is portrayed as a bad thing in society so people don’t want to admit it.

Analysis: How Would You Define Jealousy?

2009-07-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

1) How would you define jealousy?

Results:
3 participants used the word ‘envy’ in their answer.
5 participants said that it was an emotion or feeling.
15 participants defined it as wanting something; (you can’t have – 4pps),
(someone else has – 14pps)
1 participant described it as not liking someone.
Anger and not trusting people was also mentioned.
A typical answer: ‘wanting something someone else has’

(Dictionary definition:
Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, such as a relationship, friendship, or love.)

Analysis:
I used this question to get people thinking about jealousy. Everyone has experienced jealousy, however no one has given the correct definition. This may be because I asked you the participants definition of it so they have given their own view and may believe the real definition to be different.

Questionnaire

2009-06-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of the questionnaire i gave out:

Psychology Questionnaire

For psychology, I am researching into jealousy, what causes it and how people deal with it. I would be very grateful if you could take your time to fill in this questionnaire as it will help me with my research. If you don’t want to answer a question then you may leave it blank and go on to the next question. Your answers will be anonymous so please answer each question as truthfully as possible.

1) How would you define jealousy?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

2) How often do you feel jealous of someone or something?
Every Day
2-3 times a week
Less than once a week
Less than once a month
Rarely
Don’t Know

3) Do you respond to jealousy in any of these ways (tick as many as applicable)
Feeling emotionally devastated
Getting even
Sexual arousal
Need social support from friends
Blame & punish yourself for being jealous
Confront the situation directly
Anger
Make it look as if you don’t care (e.g. try to look as if your having a good time)
Other (Please state)_____________________________________

4) Think back to times when you have been jealous, have you done any of these things, even in subconsciously?
Became violent
Avoided the person your jealous of (e.g. avoid eye contact)
Analysed the situation (e.g. thinking why you are jealous)
Communication
Other (Please state)_____________________________________

5) Do you think these can be applied to all situations or only a few? (please state)
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

6) Which of these ways do you think is the best way of coping with jealousy?
Violence
Avoiding the person your jealous of (e.g. avoid eye contact)
Analysing the situation (e.g. wondering why you are jealous)
Communicating
Other (Please state)_____________________________________
______________________________________________________

7) There are many different types of jealousy. Please state the first 3 situations you can think of in which jealousy occurs.
1.___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

8) What emotions do you feel when you are jealous? (tick as many as applicable)
Angry
Sad/Unhappy
Worthless
Unconfident
Stupid
Excited
Other (Please state) ___________________

Jealousy within relationships

9) Do you think jealousy occurs in most, if not all relationships?
Yes/No

10) Do you think jealousy occurs more in a relationship between people with less trust?
Yes/No

11) Why do you think jealousy occurs/what do you think is the cause of jealousy within relationships?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

12) If in a relationship, what kind of things would make you feel jealous of your partner?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

13) How do you think you would deal with this?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

Age:_____ Gender: M/F

Aims and Method

2009-06-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

I am particularly interested in jealousy within relationships. Most of the research I've done has shown about jealousy within marital relationships and extramarital relationships. However, I'm more interested in jealousy within teenage relationships.

Aims:
· I am trying to find out how people cope with jealousy within relationships and why it may occur in relationships.
· I am also trying to find out if ways of coping with extramarital relationships can be applied to other types of jealousy, especially teenage relationships.

Method:
To do this, I am going to create a questionnaire asking people about their views on jealousy and how they cope. I will ask about the findings from the psychologists Bryson and Buunk to confirm them and to see if Buunk's findings can be applied to other situations. I am going to get a wide sample as I can and an even mix of males and females. Hopefully this will enable me to find out more about peoples thought processes and feelings when feeling jealous. I know that people may not answer completely truthfully but I will stress to them that it's important for my research that the answers are as truthful as possible.

I am using a self report method because it is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to gather data.

Background: Jealousy Leading To Violence And In Extreme Cases Death

2009-06-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Studies have shown that young males experiencing intense sexual jealousy are among the most common perpetrators of murder and suicide. Similarly, studies have noted the prevalence of jealousy as a motive in nonfatal wife abuse and courtship violence. Culture appears to contribute to the severity of aggression in sexual jealousy situations among males. Hupka and James M. Ryan (1990) studied ninety-two preindustrial societies and found that importance attached to being married, limitations placed on nonmarital sexual gratification, and emphasis placed on private ownership of property are associated with more aggressive responses in jealousy situations.

Further evidence for the importance of culture comes from the work of Ana R. Delgado, Gerardo Prieto, and Roderick A. Bond (1997) who examined whether people consider jealousy justification for wife battery. They found striking differences between Britain where the harm-doer was seen as more guilty and Spain where the victim was seen as more guilty.

Background Research

2009-06-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

Buunk (1982) found that communication is positively related to marital satisfaction whereas avoidance is negatively related to it.
Janice L. Francis (1977) reached a similar conclusion when she identified the development of communication skills as the appropriate treatment mode for sexual jealousy.

Peter Salovey and Judith Rodin (1985) found that selective ignoring, defined as simply deciding that the desired object is not that important, is a coping strategy used by some. This is evidence that some people cope with jealousy by devaluing their relationship.

Many studies of jealousy do not investigate the extreme techniques of coping with jealousy such as the use of physical force or homicide, however studies of family violence leave little doubt that they occur frequently: Martin Daly, Margo Wilson, and Suzanne Weghorst (1982) reviewed several studies of spousal homicide that used data beyond those found in police files and concluded that male sexual jealousy may be a major source of conflict in an overwhelming majority of spousal homicides in North America.

Background Research: Buunk

2009-06-22T05:12:00.000-07:00

Buunk (1982) examined the ways people cope with their spouses' extramarital relationships and identified three strategies:
Avoidance (of the spouse),
e.g. possibility of leaving the spouse and retreating
Reappraisal (of the situation),
e.g. cognitive attempts to reduce one's jealousy which may include developing a critical attitude toward one's own jealousy as well as direct attempts to get the jealousy under control by relativizing the whole situation.
Communication,
This is the most common strategy and can reduce jealousy if it results in a redefinition of the relationship or a changed perception of the partner's behaviour.

**Alot of psychologists have talked about affairs and jealousy within marriage, however I would like to investigate jealousy within different relationships such as between siblings, friendships, and relationships among the younger population.**

Background Research: Jeff Bryson

2009-06-22T05:08:00.002-07:00

Jeff Bryson (1991), identified eight modes of response:
Emotional devastation,
Reactive retribution (get even),
Arousal (intensify ardor or interest in partner),
Need for social support (more intensive interaction with friends),
Intropunitiveness (blame and punish oneself for being jealous),
Confrontation (confront the situation directly),
Anger,
Impression management (make others think don't care/get drunk or high).

These eight responses comprise a variety of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions that are independent of each other. A person may experience all of them, some of them, or only a single reaction in response to a particular jealousy-producing situation.

Definition of Jealousy

2009-06-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, such as a relationship, friendship, or love. Jealousy often consists of a combination of emotions such as anger, sadness, and disgust. Jealousy differs from envy in that jealousy is about something one has and is afraid of losing, while envy refers to something one does not have and either wants to acquire or to prevent another from acquiring.

Jealousy is a familiar experience in human relationships. It has been observed in infants five months old and older. Some claim that jealousy is seen in every culture, however others claim jealousy is a culture-specific phenomenon.

Jealousy

2009-06-22T03:29:00.000-07:00

I am doing an A level psychology research project on jealousy and i will be posting my updates and findings on this blog.

I am interested in how people cope with jealousy. This could be on a number of different levels, between siblings and family members, within friendships, relationships and marriages. Jealousy could be over insigniciant things that seem important at the time or over things on a much larger scale such as someones wife/husband having an affair. So what is jealousy? Everyone feels it but it is hard to explain what it is and how it feels. I will be trying to find out this question and how people cope with jealousy and if different people cope with jealousy in different ways.

Becky