An investigation into the structure of jealousy, and its relationship to interpersonal suspicion

Lerigo, Fiona. A. (2020). An investigation into the structure of jealousy, and its relationship to interpersonal suspicion. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis aims to trace one feature — interpersonal suspicious thought — in order to better understand jealousy, and its relationship to other kinds of suspicious thought in non-clinical populations. Chapter 1 offers an overview of jealousy and its clinical and forensic importance. Chapters 2 and 3 review the jealousy literature and theory, and offer critiques and areas to examine further, such as, the role of abnormal cognitive processes, negative affect, and in particular, psychosis-like thought. Chapter 4 explores jealousy’s structure and its relationship to paranoid ideation and finds indications of a shared, cumulative, latent, psychosis-like structure. Chapter 5 further examines the structure of jealousy found in Chapter 4 and confirms the cumulative structure and jealousy’s overlap with paranoia. Chapter 6 investigates how irrational processes, including jealousy, arise, evolve and impact couple relationships in real time. The study found that interpersonal socio-cognitive processes, such as intuition, appear to play a role in irrational thought formation and maintenance and may have a role in both functional and dysfunctional relationship processes. Chapter 7 summarises the thesis and integrates theory to build a new model of the jealousy process. The results of the thesis are discussed in terms of both implications for practice and directions for future research.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):