Jealousy: curse or purpose?

We call jealousy “the green-eyed monster” which implies a certain irrationality and lack of purpose; what is a monster after all, but a creature beyond reason and un-encumbered by logic? Is this characterisation accurate though, or could it be that in fact jealousy has a sound basis and a useful purpose? If jealousy is just a psychological construct of humans then we won’t find it happening in other species but if it is does exist in, say dogs, then maybe there is an evolutionary purpose to it. This was the rationale of researchers who conducted an interesting piece of new research into the behaviour of dogs.

The first experiment in this study involved dogs and dog owners in their own homes. The dog owners were asked to ignore their dog and focus their attention on either a stuffed dog, a computerised dog that barged and whined, or a non-dog toy. The owners were asked to treat whatever they interacted with as a dog, as they would treat their real dog.

In a second experiment the owners were asked to read a melodic pop-up book out loud while again ignoring their dogs.

In both experiments independent assessors rated the dogs for any aggression or attention-seeking behaviours.

The results showed that 78 per cent of dogs pushed or touched their owner when they were playing with the stuffed dog, while only 42 per cent did this when the owner focused on the “non-dog” toy, and only 22 per cent did it when the owners were reading the book. On top of that, 32 per cent of the dogs pushed themselves between their owner and the stuffed dog and 25 per cent snapped at the stuffed dog. Given that 86 per cent of the dogs sniffed the stuffed dogs rear end during the experiments it did appear they though the stuffed animal was a genuine rival.

Based on these findings the researchers say that while we can’t know for sure what the dogs were thinking, it does seem as though they were experiencing jealousy, and they responded to protect an important social relationship.

The researchers also make the point that in humans although we often represent jealousy as pertaining to romantic rivals, it can equally be experienced in relation to friends, family, or even co-workers. If dogs can experience it, then these researchers are suggesting that jealousy actually serves an evolutionary purpose.

Maybe jealousy is not just a green-eyed monster after all, maybe it is a clear thinking Relationship Ranger with an eye on maintaining social bonds.