Toward a behavior-analytic understanding of jealousy and compersion in romantic and sexual relationships

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ABSTRACT Jealousy is the emotional response to a real or imagined threat to an important relationship, and is a common source of distress within romantic and other close interpersonal relationships. In contrast, compersion is the experience of joy in response to a partner experiencing emotional or sexual attraction toward and interactions with another person. In this paper the authors present a contingency analysis of jealous responding and identify ways in which contingencies may be altered to produce a reduction in jealous responding in situations in which this is a targeted goal. Contingencies involved in compersive responding are also propounded, with suggestions as to how compersive responding may be fostered within relationships in which compersion is a goal.