You Had Sex With Who?: Males’ Expression of Counter-Jealousy in Heterosexual and Homosexual Relationships

Although we would like to believe that every relationship is perfect, that two people who find each other and want to be together will never cheat, lie, or stray away from their partner, this is not the case. Our lives are filled with relationships, some that benefit us greatly, and some that hurt us. In some relationships, infidelity occurs, an act that can destroy a relationship, lead to negative emotions, and induce strong jealous feelings. Infidelity can be homosexual or heterosexual, for the person can cheat with someone of the same sex as their partner or someone of a different sex. This paper hypothesized that males would be more jealous following heterosexual infidelity than homosexual infidelity. It predicted that they would use a common type of jealousy, called counter-jealousy, which involves flirting or involving oneself with another partner in order to create jealous feelings in one’s partner. The results of this study were inconclusive due to a limited number of participants. The hypothesis was not supported, but the research found that there was not a significant difference between the amount of jealousy used following homosexual and heterosexual infidelity