THE PILL AND ITS EFFECTS ON WOMENS JEALOUSY By: Nicole Ostlund,
Mikayla Kemp, and Matt Meneses Cobey, K.D., Pollet, T.V., Roberts,
C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal birth control use and
relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen dosage effects.
Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 315-317
Slide 2
Prior research has shown that women using oral contraceptives
express higher levels of jealousy than those women who are
regularly cycling. In the study done by Cobey, Pollet, Roberts, and
Buunk, they looked at the effects of different levels of the
combined oral contraceptives, either low dose or ultra-low dose, on
womens jealousy. They predicted that women on a higher dose (the
low dose) would express higher levels of jealousy than women on an
ultra-low dose. Their measurement of jealousy was done on a scale
created by Buunk, which measured jealousy on a continuum from
healthy to unhealthy. Cobey, K.D., Pollet, T.V., Roberts, C.S.,
& Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal birth control use and
relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen dosage effects.
Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 315-317
Slide 3
275 women participated in their study, all of which had been
using oral contraceptives for at least 3 months. While also looking
at the differences between low and ultra-low doses, they looked at
the presence of progesterone on jealousy. In doing so they tested
the effects of progesterone against the effects of estrogen on
jealousy levels to see if a difference would be found between them.
Cobey, K.D., Pollet, T.V., Roberts, C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011).
Hormonal birth control use and relationship jealousy: Evidence for
estrogen dosage effects. Personality and Individual Differences,
50(2), 315-317
Slide 4
What they found was that women in the low dose condition
expressed more jealousy than those in the ultra-low dose condition.
They also concluded that the presence of progesterone had no effect
on jealousy, meaning changes in jealousy are dependent on levels of
estrogen. Ultra low doseLow dose Cobey, K.D., Pollet, T.V.,
Roberts, C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal birth control use
and relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen dosage effects.
Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 315-317
Slide 5
RESULTS. TURNED OUT BETTER THAN EXPECTED. Cobey, K.D., Pollet,
T.V., Roberts, C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal birth
control use and relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen dosage
effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2),
315-317
Slide 6
TOO MUCH ESTROGEN? Taken from Saturday Night Live, Season 3,
Episode 5
Slide 7
Prior research has also shown that women who are taking an oral
contraceptive tend to show no or weaker preferences for deeper
voices and masculine faces, than women who are maintaining a normal
cycle. What this studys conclusions postulate are the chances that
women who are on higher doses of these contraceptives could have
problems forming pair bonds (female-male relations). Cobey, K.D.,
Pollet, T.V., Roberts, C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal
birth control use and relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen
dosage effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2),
315-317
Slide 8
This study takes a new approach to exploring the effects of
oral contraceptives on behavior. Prior research has explored
different emotional phenomena that occurs as a result of the pills,
but has been lacking in other behavioral effects. The experimenters
suggest that brands and pharmaceutical companies look deeper into
the psychological effects of these contraceptives. Cobey, K.D.,
Pollet, T.V., Roberts, C.S., & Buunk, A.P. (2011). Hormonal
birth control use and relationship jealousy: Evidence for estrogen
dosage effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2),
315-317
Slide 9
Interesting Points: A previous study found that a larger amount
of women on hormonal contraceptives rather than non-users, reported
that they would be more upset with their partners sexual infidelity
rather than their partners emotional infidelity. A previous study
showed that progesterone affects behavior affiliative motivation,
but these results suggest that differing progesterone have no
significant affect on reported jealousy levels This study concludes
that woman taking higher doses of the Combined Oral Contraceptives
could have problems forming pair bonds.
Slide 10
Weak Points: The age of participants had a significant
difference in jealousy levels. Therefore, the experiment could have
been broken into different age groups to find a more specific
result within the separate age groups The study suggests that the
use of Combined Oral Contraceptives have an influence on depressive
symptoms, but to further research was done on this topic in the
study. The study only concentrated on low-dose users and ultra-low
dose users. High-dose users could have also been incorporated into
the study.