The adaptive functions of jealousy

Author

Jose C. YONG, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Norman P. LI, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2018

Abstract

Jealousy is a troublesome emotional experience for those afflicted by its onset. The grip of the “green-eyed monster” has been known to cause misery and produce some drastic coping behaviors ranging from paranoid stalking to violent aggression. But rather than a product of civilized culture gone wrong or a mental disorder as some thinkers have claimed jealousy to be, the current chapter proposes from an evolutionary perspective that jealousy plays an important role in our lives by serving a critical adaptive function for humans—the vigilance over and protection of relationships that are valuable to us.

Keywords

Jealousy, Evolutionary psychology, Adaptations, Function, Sex differences, Mating

Discipline

Psychology | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Functions of Emotion

Editor

H. C. Lench

First Page

121

Last Page

140

ISBN

9783319776194

Identifier

10.1007/978-3-319-77619-4_7

Publisher

Springer

City or Country

New York

Citation

YONG, Jose C., & LI, Norman P.. (2018). The adaptive functions of jealousy. In Functions of Emotion (pp. 121-140). New York: Springer.

Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2798

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77619-4_7