According to a new study published in Evolutionary Psychology, romantic jealousy predicts a positive attitude toward cosmetic surgery, willingness to use tanning and diet pills, and greater financial investment in appearance, indicating jealousy’s unique role in women’s efforts to enhance their physical appearances.
Mate retention is the act of retaining one’s relationship through intra- or inter-sexual manipulation. Appearance enhancement could be one way of retaining a partner; these efforts can range from choice of clothing to more transformative measures like cosmetic surgery. Notably, women in committed relationships are more inclined toward appearance enhancement for mate retention compared to those in less committed relationships.
But what predicts these efforts? Researchers Steven Arnocky and colleagues examined the role of jealousy in appearance enhancement, while accounting for envy–a closely related but distinct emotion. Jealousy, centering the threatened loss of a valued relationship, differs from envy, which revolves around feeling disadvantaged next to the quality or resources of others.
A total of 189 undergraduate women, averaging 20-years-old, were recruited from Nipissing University in Canada. Approximately half of the participants were in committed relationships, averaging a one-year duration. Participants completed various measures. The Multidimensional Jealousy Scale gauged cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of jealousy. The Dispositional Envy Scale assessed participants’ perceived inferiority, feelings of injustice, and frustrations related to others’ advantages.
Attitude toward cosmetic surgery was measured via the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale. Participants indicated the proportion of their income they allocate toward products and services targeting appearance enhancement, on a scale of 0 to 100% (at 10% intervals). Lastly, participants rated their degree of interest in using a free tanning membership or using diet pills despite awareness of its serious health side effects. A control risk-taking item assessed for participants’ willingness to paint in an unventilated room.
The study revealed that dispositional envy was a significant predictor of various appearance enhancement behaviors, with the exception of spending on appearance, and facial cosmetic use. Even when accounting for envy, jealousy emerged as a predictor of a positive attitude toward cosmetic surgery, spending projection, willingness to use diet pills and a free tanning membership, but not facial cosmetics.
Notably, jealousy was not predictive of painting in an unventilated room, suggesting jealous women are not more prone to risk taking generally, but that at least in this study’s context, jealousy is uniquely related to appearance enhancement. Envy and jealousy were moderately correlated, which to the researchers’ knowledge, may be the first statistical demonstration of the association between these constructs.
A limitation of the study is the predominantly Caucasian sample, and relatively narrow age of participants (17-37 years). To enhance the generalizability of the findings, future research should explore whether similar patterns emerge in more diverse samples, encompassing various ethnicities, age groups, socioeconomic statuses, and sexual orientations.
The study, “Women’s Romantic Jealousy Predicts Risky Appearance Enhancement Effort”, was authored by Steven Arnocky, Megan MacKinnon, Sadie Clarke, Grant McPherson, and Emily Kapitanchuk.