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Jealousy

Jealousy is often confused with envy or rivalry, but the three terms have distinct meanings. Envy involves wanting something that someone else has. Rivalry involves two or more individuals competing for something that neither of them has. Jealousy is a concern that what someone already possesses and values may be lost or stolen. Individuals experience jealousy in various situations, such as worrying that a recent hire might become the boss’s new favorite employee or that a friend will start spending all of her or his time with a new love interest. The form of jealousy that scholars study most often is romantic jealousy. Romantic jealousy occurs when individuals believe that a rival is a threat to their relationship. Scholars have determined that jealousy usually consists of a cluster of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that occur in reaction to such a threat. Psychologists have studied romantic jealousy in detail by focusing on what individuals think and feel when they are jealous, as well as how they cope with jealous feelings. Therefore, psychologists have focused more on the internal thoughts and feelings associated with jealousy. Communication scholars, though, have focused on how people communicate their jealous thoughts and feelings to others, especially their partners and rivals. In the field of communication, the most commonly used method to measure jealous communication is the Communicative Responses to Jealousy (CRJ) scale. The remainder of this entry discusses the most recent version of the CRJ scale, including the various responses it measures as well as some of the findings this measure has produced.

Communicative Responses to Jealousy

The CRJ scale was initially developed by having students think about the last few times they were jealous. They then described how they communicated or avoided communicating jealousy. Based on these descriptions, many different responses to jealousy were identified and scales were created to measure each of these responses. A statistical technique called factor analysis was then used to determine how the responses could be grouped together. In the most recent version of the CRJ scale, jealous responses are classified under four broad categories: destructive, constructive, avoidant, and rival-focused.

Conceptualizing the Responses

Destructive communicative responses to jealousy generally focus on getting back at the partner or making the partner feel badly. They are destructive because couples who report these kinds of responses tend to be relatively unhappy with their relationships. Three specific forms of jealous communication fall under this category: negative communication, counterjealousy inductions, and violence. When individuals use negative communication to express jealousy, their communication is aggressive and often designed to hurt their partner. Examples include arguing, acting rude, and making hurtful comments. Counterjealousy induction occurs when individuals try to get back at their partner by making them jealous too. They might act interested in someone else or start flirting with others in front of the partner. Finally, violent communication ranges from threatening to actually physically hurting the other person by engaging in behaviors such as hitting or shoving.

Constructive communicative responses to jealousy, however, focus on keeping the relationship happy by sharing feelings or trying to improve oneself or the relationship. Two specific forms of jealous responses fall under this category: integrative communication and compensatory restoration. When jealous individuals use integrative communication, they talk about their feelings in a calm fashion that can help promote understanding. Integrative communication can also lead to assurances and renegotiating relationship rules, which can reduce the likelihood of experiencing jealousy in the future. For example, a woman might assure her boyfriend that she loves him and only him after he discloses his jealous feelings. Compensatory restoration involves trying to compensate for any perceived shortcomings by doing things such as enhancing one’s physical appearance, being especially affectionate, or treating the partner especially well. Such behaviors are designed to show the partner that the current relationship is better than the rival relationship would be.

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