The Weird Reason Men Are More Likely To Cheat Than Women
A new study sheds some light on the cheating mystery.
Syda Productions / Shutterstock "A man is only as faithful as his opportunities." — Chris Rock
Boredom. Sexual desires and curiosity. Unhappiness with the current relationship. In need of an ego boost. Infidelity happens for a number of reasons (none of which are ever an excuse to cheat on another human being, by the way), but why is it that men seem to have more affairs than women do?
Maybe Chris Rock was on to something with his above quote. Perhaps it's just too many "opportunities".
Although both genders definitely do and have cheated on their significant others, (we won't even start with that old-fashioned stereotype), there is some research that seems to think that there could be a particular reason as to why men are more prone to committing infidelity than women are.
A 2013 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin sheds some light on this cheating mystery. Scientists found that, while men have the same ability to resist temptation as women do, their stronger impulses are what present the issue.
Psychologists claimed that men have more intense sexual desires than women do. Researchers in the study noted that "men succumbed to sexual temptations more than women and this sex difference emerged because men experienced stronger impulses, not because they exerted less intentional control.”
In one of the study's experiments, both men and women were asked to perform a reaction-time task where they chose to accept or reject potential partners. In the other experiment, the participants had to report on their impulses when they encountered a real-life — but forbidden — temptation.
Both experiments resulted in the same exact conclusion. The male participants often gave in to their impulses and sexual temptations.
The researchers noted that the male participants performed worse, “because they experienced a strong impulse to respond ‘yes’ to the desirable opposite-sex targets, not because they failed to exert intentional control over their responses.”
They also explained that this all adds up if we look at it from an evolutionary perspective since, “brief, low-investment sexual encounters could have resulted in greater reproductive success for men than for women in humans’ evolutionary past.”
And while you'd think that our species would have evolved past the times of Neanderthals and cavemen, judging from this research, there are men that still haven't (not too surprising, really).
So, what do we do? Even with this information in mind, it's important to remember that cheating is still (and will always be) a choice. There is absolutely no excuse to ever cheat on another person.
But, what about all the men who don't cheat? And, no, not all men do - that's just another old-fashioned stereotype.
Perhaps it is harder for men to stay faithful when their stronger urges override their potential to withstand certain "opportunities." But isn't it also hard to lie to, betray and hurt the one who you love? If it's not, then you really need to do some deep soul-searching.
And if nothing else, remember this very important fact: Men who cheat on their wives are more likely to break their penises.
Michelle Toglia is the Deputy Lifestyle Editor at Bustle. Follow her on Twitter.