Real Science – Are Women Better Wired To Avoid Infidelity?

Men and women react differently to temptation when involved in a romantic relationship.  As reported by the Los Angeles Times:

In an experiment published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in July, researchers at McGill University in Montreal asked 150 men and women to imagine chatting with an attractive member of the opposite sex. For comparison, another 150 imagined boring encounters with people of the same sex. After the visualizations, all participants played fill-in-the-blank word games designed to reveal subconscious thoughts.

Additionally, test subjects interacted with both male and female actors (participants were unaware they were actors) who were attractive and flirty or aloof, then were asked questions about how they would react to hypothetical situations with their partners.  The men appeared more critical of their partner’s bad behavior (for example, arriving late) after spending time with the attractive, flirty women.  Women were the opposite, they played it off, made excuses for their partner after hanging out with the “hot” guys.  In short, the men saw the attractive women as possibilities for romance, while the women saw the guys as a threat. 

According to this study, women are apparently better wired to avoid infidelity.  There is hope for the future of long term relationship, however.  Men can learn to train themselves to avoid that wandering eye. 

Studies have shown, for example, that New Year’s resolutions succeed more often when people first form a plan of behavior for specific situations. So the researchers had another group of men visualize a scenario involving a cute woman at the bar and a girlfriend gone for the weekend. Then they had the men complete the following sentence in detail: “When the girl approaches, I will [blank] to protect my relationship.”

When let loose in a virtual reality building, these trained men tended to avoid certain areas: the rooms with pictures on the wall of pretty women flickering imperceptibly, flashing for only a few thousands of a second — so fast that only their subconscious would notice. Untrained men, however, virtually flocked to the flashing-women rooms.

A reminder of their loved one helped the men to avoid encounters with attractive women. Interesting. For the complete article, check Love and infidelity: How our brains keep us from straying – Los Angeles Times.