Original Article
Coping with mate poaching: gender differences in detection of infidelity-related threats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.002Get rights and content

Abstract

People often aspire for true love and committed romantic relationships. These relationships, however, are recurrently threatened by partner infidelity. The present research tested a new infidelity-detection model, the rivalry sensitivity hypothesis, that posits that women are more sensitive to cues of infidelity than men are, and tend to focus their attention on potential rivals in their mate's vicinity, whereas men show increased sensitivity of their own partners. In a series of four studies, we found that women displayed greater alertness to cues of potential partner unfaithfulness than did men, were quicker and more accurate in detecting cues of infidelity, but were not better than men in detecting other threats. Women also focused their attention on potential rivals (other women), whereas men's attention was specifically directed at monitoring their own partner's intents. These findings suggest that women and men have developed different strategies aimed at achieving a similar outcome – mate retention.

Section snippets

Study 1

In Study 1, we examined whether men and women differ in the extent to which they appraise ambiguous partner-related incidents as comprising a threat of infidelity. To this end, participants completed self-report measures of partner distrust, history of infidelity, and socio-economic status, and then were asked to appraise whether or not a partner-related event portrays a clear threat of infidelity (yes or no responses). We hypothesized that women would judge more incidents as comprising a

Study 2

In Study 2, we examined whether women are quicker and more accurate than men in detecting scenes portraying acts of infidelity. Specifically, participants answered questions regarding their history of infidelity and socio-economic status, and then were asked to detect a picture portraying an act of infidelity (i.e., a target picture) out of a matrix of 36 pictures depicting social interactions (i.e., control pictures).

Study 3

Study 3 was designed to examine our hypothesis that women would be quicker and more accurate than men in detecting threats of infidelity but not threats unrelated to spousal unfaithfulness. To this end, participants answered questions regarding their socio-economic status and then were asked to detect two types of threats: a threat of infidelity, as in Study 2, and a threat from poisonous animals (a basic threat that humans have evolved to avoid). Specifically, after completing the computerized

Study 4

In Study 4, we examined whether women's sensitivity about acts of infidelity as compared with men's is channeled to same-sex rivals (i.e., other women), whereas men's sensitivity is directed to their spouses. To this end, participants completed self-report measures of partner distrust, history of infidelity, and socio-economic status, and then were asked to complete a computerized classification task, in which we implicitly examined their perception of within-couple threats and threats that

General discussion

The threat that infidelity poses to men and women is so severe, that the directive “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14) is considered by many cultures as one of most inexorable moral violations. It seems, however, that thousands of years of culture-driven efforts to curb infidelity have seen limited success, and the lifetime chances of experiencing partner unfaithfulness are considerably high (Allen et al., 2005). Mate poaching strategies can be singled out as one main culprit that

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