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Up to 50% of people admit cheating on their partner.
Up to 50% of people admit cheating on their partner.
People who are low on conscientiousness are more likely to cheat on their partner, research finds.People who are not conscientious are careless, badly organised and find it hard to resist temptation.People who are more extraverted are also more likely to cheat on their partner, the researchers found.It is probably because extraverted people have a wider social circle and so more opportunities to cheat.Also, extraverts are impulsive, sensation-seekers who can easily succumb to their desires.The conclusions come from a survey of 208 people, who were asked about their relationships and whether they had cheated.Up to 50% of people admit cheating on their partner, the authors write:“Early studies reported that by the age of 40, 50% of all married men and more than 25% of all married women have engaged in extramarital sexual behavior.Three decades later, an estimated 50% of men continued to engage in sexual and/or emotional extramarital relations while 40% of women engaged in similar relationships.”The results of the study revealed that cheaters tend to be low in conscientiousness, extraverted and open to experience.Extraverts tend to seek out stimulation, the authors write:
“Extroverts may be inclined to cheat to obtain stimulation and prevent boredom.Extroversion may also facilitate less investment in the relationship when those with this trait seek out others for stimulation, thereby decreasing commitment and resulting in cheating behaviours.”The third personality trait associated with infidelity is openness to experience.Openness to experience is linked to intellect and creativity.The authors explain:
“…cheaters may perceive themselves as having stronger intellect and stronger creativity compared to that of their partners, leading them to seek out partners that may be a better, that is, similar, match.”The study was published in the journal Current Psychology (Orzeck & Lung, 2005).
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A study of relationships uncovered a hidden pattern that keeps showing up in people’s romantic lives.
A study of relationships uncovered a hidden pattern that keeps showing up in people’s romantic lives.
People tend to look for the same personality type in a partner over-and-over again.
One of the main things people look for is a similar personality to themselves.
So, extraverts prefer other extraverts, agreeable people prefer other agreeable people, and so on.
However, it is more than that: there is also a lot of similarity between a person’s ex-partners.
One advantage of repeatedly dating similar people is learning how to navigate a particular personality type.
Ms Yoobin Park, the study’s first author, said:
“In every relationship, people learn strategies for working with their partner’s personality.
If your new partner’s personality resembles your ex-partner’s personality, transferring the skills you learned might be an effective way to start a new relationship on a good footing.”
The conclusions come from a study of 332 people.
Researchers compared the personalities of participants’ current partners with those of their former partners.
They were asked how much they agreed with statements like:
The results showed that people tend to have a ‘type’, said Ms Park:
“It’s common that when a relationship ends, people attribute the breakup to their ex-partner’s personality and decide they need to date a different type of person.
Our research suggests there’s a strong tendency to nevertheless continue to date a similar personality.
The effect is more than just a tendency to date someone similar to yourself.
The degree of consistency from one relationship to the next suggests that people may indeed have a ‘type’.
And though our data do not make clear why people’s partners exhibit similar personalities, it is noteworthy that we found partner similarity above and beyond similarity to oneself.”
In some circumstances, though, sticking to the same personality type all the time can be damaging, said Ms Park:
“So, if you find you’re having the same issues in relationship after relationship, you may want to think about how gravitating toward the same personality traits in a partner is contributing to the consistency in your problems.”
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Park & MacDonald, 2019).
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