Sex Differences in the Structure of the Concept of Jealousy – the Use of Emotional Verbal Fluency Technique

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe the concept of jealousy based on linguistic material and to examine sex differences in the structure of the concept. The study was conducted in a group of 160 subjects, including 90 women and 70 men. An emotional verbal fluency task was used. The results showed, that the concept of jealousy has a more complex structure in the group of women. Women produced more words for jealousy, including words that denote emotions from the spectrum of fear and sadness, words referring to negative jealousy ratings, and close relationships. In addition, qualitative analysis of the linguistic material showed that for men in the concept of jealousy, there are more references to envy.