Answer the multiple-choice questions based on the content of the selection.

Question

According to Russell (1994), millions of wives are assaulted by their husbands each year in the
United States alone. When these battered women are asked why their husbands assaulted them, many have a simple answer: “Jealousy!” And growing evidence indicates that they are correct. Sexual jealousy—a perceived threat to a romantic relationship from a rival for one’s partner—does appear to be a very potent cause of aggression. Individuals who feel that their lover has “done them wrong” by flirting— or worse—with another person often experience strong feelings of anger, and frequently think about or actually engage in actions designed to punish their lover, the rival, or both.
Do males and females differ in such reactions, and in the tendency to translate sexual jealousy into assaults against their spouse or lover? On the basis of the findings mentioned above, you might assume that males experience stronger jealousy and are more likely to become aggressive. And indeed, the incidence of husbands assaulting wives is much higher than the reverse. But remember: Males are generally much stronger than females and have often had much more experience with aggression. So the fact that men are more likely to assault women than vice versa doesn’t necessarily mean that males experience stronger sexual jealousy; perhaps females experience jealousy that is just as strong, and have equally powerful motives to punish their mates, but they simply lack the strength or expertise to do so. In fact, the findings of several studies suggest that this may be so.
Consider an experiment conducted by de Weerth and Kalma in 1993. These researchers asked a large number of students enrolled in a social psychology course at a university in the Netherlands to indicate how they would react if they learned that their current lover was having an affair with another person. As you can
see from Figure 1, females reported they would be more likely to respond with verbal and physical abuse of
their lover, or to cry and demand an explanation. In contrast, males indicated that they would be more likely to get drunk.

FIGURE 1

What accounts for this gender difference? One possibility is suggested by the perspective of evolutionary psychology. According to this perspective, contrasting biological forces may underlie male and female sexual jealousy. For females, such jealousy may focus primarily on the potential loss of resources needed for child rearing. Throughout most of human evolution, females have been dependent on males for the resources needed to raise children. In this context, the result would be that females would react very strongly
to male sexual infidelity. For males, in contrast, sexual jealousy may rest primarily on concern over paternity. If their mate has sexual relations with other men, they may find themselves in the uncomfortable situation of raising other men’s children. In the past, this was a strong basis for male sexual jealousy. This is only one possible explanation. Whatever the precise explanation, it is clear that sexual jealousy is a strong impetus to aggression for both genders.

1. The topic of the passage is related to
a. differences in men and women.
b. male aggression due to sexual jealousy.
c. sexual jealousy of males and females.

2. The author supports his thesis by using
a. explanation and statistics.
b. contrast and comparison.
c. persuasion.

3. According to the Weerth and Kalma study, upon finding out that their mate had sexual relations with another person, females are more likely to
a. get drunk than males.
b. respond with physical abuse than males.
c. do nothing.

4. We can infer from the passage that sexual jealousy
a. is a prevalent feeling.
b. plays no part in a relationship.
c. is the cause of many homicides.

5. According to the passage, one possible explanation for the gender difference concerning sexual jealousy is a. social psychology.
b. child rearing.
c. evolutionary psychology.

Answer 1

1. c.
2. a.
3. b.
4. a.
5. c.