Men and women react differently to infidelity: Study

As per a recent study, women and men react differently to infidelity. If your partner has sex with someone else, it is considered infidelity — even if no emotions are involved. But it is also considered infidelity when your significant other develops a close personal relationship with someone else, even when there is no sex or physical intimacy involved.

The Norwegian study shows that men and women react differently to various types of infidelity. Whereas men are most jealous of sexual infidelity, the emotional infidelity is what makes women the most jealous. According to the evolutionary psychology explanation, a man’s jealousy is an emotional reaction to signs of sexual infidelity. The jealousy serves to reduce the chances that his partner is cheating, since he then monitors her more closely. The greatest threat for the woman is not that the man has sex with other women, but that he spends time and resources on women other than her. Evolutionary psychologists believe that women are sensitive to signs that the man is devoting time and attention to other women.

The research says neither past experiences with infidelity nor whether we are in a relationship seems to affect men’s and women’s reactions to infidelity. The study is published in the latest issue of Personality and Individual Differences.