Who Unfaithful Partners Cheat With

Key Points:

1. Unlikely connections: Unfaithful partners often choose individuals who are unexpected or surprising as their affair partners.
2. Emotional compatibility: Cheating partners tend to seek emotional connection and compatibility with their affair partners.
3. Shared interests: Unfaithful partners often cheat with individuals who share common interests or hobbies, creating a sense of familiarity and bonding.
4. Physical attraction: Physical appearance and attractiveness play a significant role in determining whom unfaithful partners choose to cheat with.

Most people don’t enter into relationships with their eyes roaming. Those that do often show an addiction early on, either by words, action, or both.

When a faithful partner is recognized, he or she may become hypersensitive to a flirting partner’s perceived chemistry with extra-relational alternatives. Is that, however, the greatest method to predict a fling? Some answers can be found through research.

Motives for Infidelity Impact Partner Choice

Many people worry about their partners working with attractive singles, and they frequently feel threatened by the presence of potential paramours. In actuality, straying appears to be a function of relational dissatisfaction rather than coworker desirability.

Dylan Selterman et al. (2021) found that people who were motivated by dyadic factors such as feeling a lack of love or being angry with a partner were associated with having longer affairs, going out more often with affair partners in public, and dissolving their primary relationship.

In contrast, people who were motivated by non-dyadic situational factors such as being intoxicated or feeling stressed were associated with having shorter affairs and less satisfying sexual experiences with affair partners and were less likely to dissolve a primary relationship.

Selterman et al. found that people have affairs because their primary relationship is not meeting their expectations in some areas. They found that people motivated by a lack of love, sexual desire, and enjoyment of variety were more satisfied with their affairs.

On the other hand, they found that people who were motivated by situational factors were less satisfied with an affair, which was, accordingly, more likely to be short-lived.

READ ALSO: 7 things people get wrong about love languages, according to Experts

Public Display of Affair-Affection

According to research, people who are looking for the romance they feel is lacking in their primary relationship are likely to boldly venture out on the town with an extra-relational partner.

Selterman et al. found that lack of love and neglect motivations prompted intimacy with affair partners for longer periods of time, professing of love, public dating, and displays of affection, while situational motivation was not linked with this behavior.

They explain that people who perceive a lack of emotional connection with a primary relational partner may be in search of a deeper intimacy or romantic connection to fill the gap.

Steering Clear

The idea is to stay away from those who are prone to cheat in the first place. Honest partners separate before re-pairing, avoiding deception and betrayal. Moving slowly when assessing possible companions will boost your chances of finding a faithful match with whom you have chemistry and compatibility. Your initiative will be time well spent because relationship quality is priceless.