What is it about infidelity that has made it one of the top reasons why relationships and marriages don’t work out in the United States? Do people thrive off the rush of meeting an attractive stranger? Are their partners just not doing it for them anymore? Maybe it’s not even that big of a deal to them, or maybe they can just blame it on the alcohol. A popular saying suggests that “once a cheater always a cheater,” but applied social psychology could possibly help this change this behavior. At the very least, it’ll help those prone to infidelity recognize why this is so.
The theory of planned behavior, i.e., “theory of reason action” informs the reasoning behind the factors that influence people’s intention to engage in certain behaviors. (Gruman et al., 2016, p. 72). These intentions are able to be modified over time by evaluating three aspects that influence people’s behavioral intentions: 1) what is a person’s attitude towards infidelity? 2) How do people’s peers feel about and respond to infidelity? 3) How much self-control does a person feel that they have in high-risk situations (Gruman et al., 2016)? Let’s say that someone has a very lackadaisical attitude towards infidelity. They might not necessarily feel monogamy is important or feel that one person can’t satisfy all their needs. If this same individual has peers who hold the same attitudes towards infidelity, combined with the lack of perceived self-control is someone who is at high risk for engaging in extradyadic affairs without their partner’s knowledge.
Knopp et al., reviewed data that identified risk factors associated with the likelihood that one would engage in extradyadic affairs (2017). These include lack of commitment to the relationship and a decline in sexual satisfaction, having liberal attitudes towards infidelity, being around social norms that agree with the behavior, and certain personality characteristics, are all factors that increase the risk of infidelity (Knopp et al., 2017). This study examining the likelihood of prior infidelity being a factor in future infidelity, also found that not only are people at high risk of engaging in extradyadic relationships who have previously done so, those who had knowledge of a previous partner infidelity or had a suspicions, were also at high risk of having those same experiences (Knopp et al., 2017)!
Obviously, those who happen to engage in serial infidelity can greatly benefit from assessing these three dimensions of behavior intentions: their attitude toward the behavior, social norms about this behavior, and how much self-control one has towards this behavior (Gruman et al., 2016). But those who seem to find themselves on the unfortunate end of dealing with an unfaithful partner could also benefit from using this same framework to evaluate their attitudes and its possible effect on their tolerance for the behavior. If these techniques don’t seem to work, an ethically non-monogamous relationship may be the one for you!
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.
Infidelity rates by country 2023. (n.d.). 2023 World Population by Country (Live). https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/infidelity-rates-by-country
Knopp, K., Scott, S., Ritchie, L., Rhoades, G. K., Markman, H. J., & Stanley, S. M. (2017). Once a cheater, always a cheater? Serial infidelity across subsequent relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46(8), 2301-2311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1018-1
Tags: #AppliedSocialPsychology, #psychology, #socialpsychology, behavior, infidelity, relationships