ABSTRACT
This chapter examines personal, situational, and relationship factors influencing jealousy; the relative importance of these determinants; and how persons cope when jealous. Until the second half of the 1970s, most publications on jealousy were based on clinical studies of extreme manifestations of jealousy such as paranoia and delusions concerning infidelity of the spouse, homicide as a consequence of real or imagined infidelity, and the link between jealousy and alcoholism. One issue in which approaches to jealousy can differ is the extent to which they focus on “jealousy” as a label. Another issue in which situational approaches differ is whether they focus on anticipated jealousy or on jealousy that actually occurs or has occurred. Studies that have compared person and situational determinants have found that a specific personality characteristic was less important in predicting jealous reactions than situational factors. The chapter discusses several issues that may play a future role in the better understanding of jealousy.
