Attractive rivals may undermine the expectation of career advancement and enhance jealousy

2016

This experiment with 119 adult females examined the effect of a rival’s attractiveness on jealousy and career advancement expectations in a simulated work setting where individuals had to compete for a job promotion. We hypothesized that an attractive rival would evoke relatively more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations, especially in individuals high in Intrasexual Competitiveness (ISC). In addition, we examined the moderating effects of characteristics attributed to the rival in terms of popularity, professionalism, and unfriendliness. The results showed that, overall, an attractive rival induced more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations than an unattractive r…