Evolution of Jealousy

Love wasn’t the only thing in the air on Valentine’s Day 2003. A Texas jury had just found C. Harris guilty of killing her husband in a “sudden passion.” After encountering him at a hotel with a mistress, she had driven the car over his body again and again. As others were exchanging tokens of love, the “Mercedes murderer” was sentenced to spend 20 years in jail. Clara Harris was hardly the first woman to stand accused of murdering in a jealous rage. In various studies, jealousy is often ranked among the top three motives for nonaccidental homicides where motive is known—along with rage arising from a quarrel and murder during the commission of a crime. Across the ages the confounding power of sexual jealousy has inspired poetry, novels, drama, art and opera. It has also captured the attention of psychologists, who have used a variety of theoretical approaches in their pursuit of scientific understanding.