Study: Jealousy Can 'Blind' Women

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - "Blinded by jealousy" isn't just a saying according to a new psychology study, which found that sexual jealousy can affect women's ability to see clearly.

University of Delaware psychology professors Steven Most and Jean-Philippe Laurenceau tested heterosexual couples and found that social emotions appeared to permeate so deeply as to affect processes involved in visual awareness.

According to Fox News , the study stated that women who were made to feel jealous were unable to find targets they were trying to find because they "were so distracted by unpleasant images."

The research, that the professors claimed shows social emotions can affect what people see, appeared in April's issue of the journal Emotion published by the American Psychological Association.

According to the The Daily Mail the researchers had young couples sit near each other at separate computer screens. Men scored how attractive pictures of landscapes were while their female partners had to spot the landscape photos flashed amid a rapid stream of other images, including unpleasant or graphic photos.

The catch? During the study the men were also directed to rate images of other women for attractiveness. Their partners were quizzed later and the partners who admitted to being jealous failed to see the landscape photos used as "targets."

The Telegraph reported that the study only focused on the woman as the ones searching for a "target." Researchers haven't reversed the roles yet to test men's jealousy.