A Big Psychological Secret
A psychology research says “Men More Likely to Stick With
Girlfriends Who Sleep With Other Women Than Other Men”
Men are more than twice as likely to continue dating a girlfriend
who has cheated on them with another woman than one who has cheated with
another man, according to new research from a University of Texas at Austin
psychologist.
Women show the opposite pattern. They are more likely to
continue dating a man who has had a heterosexual affair than one who has had a
homosexual affair.
The study, published last month in the journal
Personality and Individual Differences, provides new insight into the
psychological adaptations behind men's desire for a variety of partners and
women's desire for a committed partner. These drives have played a key role in
the evolution of human mating psychology.
"A robust jealousy mechanism is activated in men and
women by different types of cues -- those that threaten paternity in men and
those that threaten abandonment in women," says Jaime C. Confer, the
study's lead author and a doctoral candidate in evolutionary psychology.
Confer conducted the study with her father, Mark D.
Cloud, a psychology professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.
The researchers asked 700 college students to imagine
they were in a committed romantic and sexual relationship with someone they've
been dating for three months. They were then asked how they would respond to
infidelity committed by the imagined partner.
Some participants were told their partners had been
unfaithful with a man, others with a woman. Some were told their partners had
an affair with one person, others with multiple partners. Some were told the
infidelity happened once, others twice.
Regardless of the number of episodes or partners, the
study found that:
1. Overall,
men demonstrated a 50 percent likelihood of continuing to date a partner who
has had a homosexual affair and a 22 percent likelihood of staying with a woman
after a heterosexual affair.
2. Women
demonstrated a 28 percent likelihood of continuing to date a boyfriend who has
had a heterosexual affair and a 21 percent likelihood of staying with someone
who has had a homosexual affair.
The findings suggest men are more distressed by the type
of infidelity that could threaten their paternity of offspring. Men may also
view a partner's homosexual affair as an opportunity to mate with more than one
woman simultaneously, satisfying men's greater desire for more partners, the authors
say.
"These findings are even more remarkable given that
homosexuality attitude surveys show men have more negative attitudes toward
homosexuality and to be less supportive of civil rights for same-sex couples
than women. However, this general trend of men showing lower tolerance for
homosexuality than women is reversed in the one fitness-enhancing situation --
female homosexuality," say the authors.
Image source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1196143
Conversely, women objected to continuing a relationship
following both types of affairs, but especially so for a boyfriend's homosexual
affair. Such an affair may be seen as a sign of dissatisfaction with the
current relationship and a prelude to possible abandonment, according to the
authors.
Participants were also asked the outcomes of real-life
infidelity experiences. Results mirrored those of the imagined infidelity
scenarios: Men were significantly more likely than women to have ended their
actual relationships following a partner's (presumably heterosexual) affair.
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