There is an ‘evolutionary driver’ as to why women may cheat, according to a new study
Examining the reasons why women cheat seems a bit harsh, especially in light of the numerous studies that indicate men cheat more frequently.
That’s precisely what we’re going to do.
254 people from 19 nations on six continents who had previously or currently been involved in infidelity participated in a pre-registered survey that was carried out by researchers from the esteemed Oxford University in England and Melbourne University in Australia.
There were 138 males and 116 women, and they were all involved in heterosexual relationships.
More than 250 people took part in the survey which revealed why women cheat.Getty Images
Each woman was asked to rate the attraction of her partner based on three factors: physical attractiveness, personality attraction, and belief that the individual would make a good parent.
They were subsequently asked to score the individual with whom they had an affair in the same manner, and their results were compared.
The questions were chosen by the study’s authors, Macken Murphy, Caroline A. Phillips, and Khandis R. Blake, in an effort to find answers to their hypotheses.
They wrote: “While scholars largely agree men’s infidelity evolved by increasing offspring quantity, the evolutionary drivers of women’s infidelity remain debated.”
“The ‘good genes’ (dual mating strategy) hypothesis posits infidelity allows women to pair the preferred genes of an affair partner with the preferred investment of their primary partner (Gangstad & Thornhill, 1998).”
“The mate-switching hypothesis instead argues infidelity helps women obtain a new mate without a period of deprivation.”
The questionnaire used multiple-choice questions to assess attractiveness.
Women were asked to rate the ‘parental attraction’ of their partner and the person they had an affair with.Getty Images
For instance, the options provided for the question on physical attraction included: ‘He was very sexy looking’, ‘I didn’t like the way he looked’, ‘He was somewhat ugly, ‘I thought he was quite handsome’, and ‘I found him very attractive physically’.
The majority of participants were from three countries: 40 were from Mexico, 35 were from the UK, and 104 were from South Africa.
The ‘good genes’ theory was shown to be correct by the findings the researchers made.
They concluded: “In support of the ‘good genes’ hypothesis (Hypothesis 1C), our pre-registered analyses found that women rated their affair partners as significantly more physically attractive but significantly less parentally attractive (i.e., as less desirable to co-parent with).”
“Affair partners’ average physical attraction score was 1.93 points higher than that of primary partners, while their parental attraction score was 3.33 points lower.”
A little over 70 percent of participants hailed from Mexico, South Africa and the UK.Getty Images
“We found no support for the mate-switching hypothesis, there was no effect of partner type on mate value ratings (counter to Hypothesis 1 A) or personal attraction.”
Murphy, one of the researchers, stated to Psypost: “It might sound funny, but the evolutionary drivers of female infidelity in humans is an area of vigorous debate in my part of academia.”
He added: “In a way, there are too many good explanations for it!'”