It’s Not Just Lunch: Extra-Pair Commensality Can Trigger Sexual Jealousy

Kevin M Kniffin and Brian Wansink

PLOS ONE, 2012, vol. 7, issue 7, 1-4

Abstract: Do people believe that sharing food might involve sharing more than just food? To investigate this, participants were asked to rate how jealous they (Study 1) – or their best friend (Study 2) – would be if their current romantic partner were contacted by an ex-romantic partner and subsequently engaged in an array of food- and drink-based activities. We consistently find – across both men and women – that meals elicit more jealousy than face-to-face interactions that do not involve eating, such as having coffee. These findings suggest that people generally presume that sharing a meal enhances cooperation. In the context of romantic pairs, we find that participants are attuned to relationship risks that extra-pair commensality can present. For romantic partners left out of a meal, we find a common view that lunch, for example, is not “just lunch.”

Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0040445

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040445

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