psychology
7 things we know from surveys of strangers
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What traits and characteristics are particularly typical of unfaithful people? You can read here what we can deduce from surveys on this topic.
We will never be able to predict with certainty in advance whether a person is unfaithful and cheating or not. Once it has happened, we may be able to think afterwards, yes, given his family history, his character, the situation in his partnership and so on, it was probably likely, but the bottom line is that human behavior is not predictable according to the current state of affairs.
Nevertheless, there are numerous surveys and data collections that provide us with statistical and sometimes exciting information about unfaithful people, for example which professional groups relatively often have an affair or where a particularly large number of people cheat. Here are a few of the more recent findings at a glance.
7 things we know from surveys of strangers
1. Extrovert
In a 2021 survey conducted by the dating portal Ashley Madison among a good 2,100 unfaithful people, most cheaters (59 percent) rated themselves as extroverts. Perhaps not all that surprising: Introverts are usually better at relaxing and recharging their batteries when they are alone and with themselves. An affair might be more of a burden than a pleasure for them.
2. Firstborn
In the same survey by Ashley Madison, it was found that most cheaters are eldest siblings: 39 percent of the infidelities surveyed were firstborns, 29 percent young children and 24 percent sandwich children, i.e. somewhere in the middle between older and younger siblings. Only eight percent of those taking part in the survey were only children.
3. Low self-control
A study from the University of Carolina published in Journal of Family Psychology in 2020, suggests that cheating people not only find it difficult to resist sexual temptations, but also generally show a low level of self-control. Whether it’s the premium upgrade of an app that they actually don’t need (the researchers in the USA tempted their test subjects with it), the fourth beer in the evening, which should really only be one, or the outburst of emotions with every little thing – self-control seems to be to be a quality that runs through many areas of life. And apparently also a lack of it.
4. Management
According to the Ashley Madison survey already quoted, the majority of strangers hold a professional management position. 13 percent of the test group are managers: in, a further 7 percent as CEO.
5. Hamburg
According to a data collection by the portal infidelity primer Most of the unfaithful people live in Germany Hamburg. In his nationwide Fremdgeh-Atlas, the willingness to have affairs in the Hanseatic city is 122 percent above the national average. Second and third place among the most unfaithful federal states in this 2019 study went to North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg.
6. Home ownership
In Hamburg, given the real estate prices, this will certainly be a large proportion of the unfaithful CEOs: Around 66 percent of the respondents in the Ashley Madison survey said they have their own house in which they live. Another seven percent own a condominium.
7. Distinctive facial features (in men)
As part of an Australian study published in the magazine in 2019 Royal Society Open Science was published, researchers found that cheating men usually have strikingly masculine facial shapes and features, for example strong jaws, eye-catching eyebrows, narrow lips. In this study, the researchers found no significant correlation between appearance and loyalty behavior among women.
Sources used: Press release Ashley Madison, Fremdgeh-Atlas, Royal Society Open Science, Journal of Family Psychology