Psychology Facts

▼ Jealousy ▼

》Jealousy is a complex emotion that encompasses feelings ranging from fear of abandonment to rage and humiliation.

》Jealousy is often rooted in insecurities and fears that a person may not even realize they have. These could include fear of oversimplification, fear of inadequacy, fear of abandonment, fear of being replaced, and fear of being judged.

》There are psychological factors that can make someone jealous.
Some people are more prone to jealousy than others. Psychological factors that may lead to a jealous personality type may include:

-low self esteem
-anxiety, moodiness, depression
-possessiveness-insecurities
-fear of abandonment
-codependency
-anxious attachment style

》One study in particular showed no difference in amounts of jealousy between men and women. Although women get a bad reputation for being jealous, it turns out men are just as bad.

》However, another study claims that taller men are more likely to experience higher levels of jealousy than shorter men. Get it? HIGHER levels of jealousy? okay, bad joke.

》Envy and jealousy are not the same.
While we may easily pair those two feelings, they are actually not synonymous. Both emotions promote similar feelings within us, but they exist on different planes. When someone is jealous, there is a third party threatening what they consider to be theirs. For example, your best friend met a new friend at work and now they are getting dinner together without you. Envy is an emotion between just two people. When you are feeling envious, you simply want what someone else has. This could be in terms of looks, money, work status, class, etc.

》Animals can show signs of jealousy.
In order for an animal to feel jealousy, they must have some level of cognitive ability to recognize the importance of the relationships in their lives. While we have always struggled with fully understanding the animal's mind, we do know that they're not too far off from us. While we cannot fully identify emotions in animals, jealousy is in fact thought to be a primal emotion. This means that on some base level, animals experience some form of jealousy.

》The most reported type of jealousy comes in the form of sibling rivalry. Whoever said that your best friends are your siblings obviously was an only child!

》Ever had a stomach ache or been sick while feeling extremely jealous of something? Jealousy has been shown to actually have physical effects on people. It's not all in your head...err...well, maybe it is.

》Letting jealous person to know that they have hurt you will only make them happy so just remain calm and try to guide them back to the right path.

》Romantic, work, power, friend, and family jealousy types are all considered normal jealousy. Although they may seem intrusive, for the most part they are absolutely normal in emotion.

While there is no magical cure, jealousy can be analyzed and likely avoided in the future. Reaching this point may include practicing mindfulness, therapy, challenging your negative thoughts, having intimate conversations, and being honest.

》Doctors and therapists all seem to agree that the best way to overcome jealousy is, to be honest with yourself and others about the emotions you are experiencing. Trying to fight it by telling yourself that you don't feel a certain way will only make things more difficult.