Infidelity may affect up to 75 percent of relationships.
Relying on intuition is a useful way to tell if a partner is cheating.
People are surprisingly good at telling if a person has cheated just from observing a small amount of their behaviour in a neutral situation.
In this study, a stranger was able to spot a relationship cheat just by watching a couple interacting for a few minutes.
Both the couple’s trustworthiness and commitment ‘leaked out’ from their behaviour.
People automatically pick up on the markers of infidelity without quite knowing how they have done it.
The study’s authors conclude that:
“…people may be internally programmed to identify inclinations that could be devastating to their relationship.
…individuals seeking a committed relationship may be well advised to listen to their intuition or at least think twice before committing to someone they suspect may be inclined to cheat.”
Detecting deception fast
For the study, established couples were given a quick drawing game to play that was recorded.
The couples also answered questions about their own infidelity.
Strangers watched the three- to five-minute video and tried to guess whether one had cheated on the other.
The results showed that people did surprisingly well given how little information they had to go on.
The study’s authors write:
“People can make remarkably accurate judgments about others in a variety of situations after just a brief exposure to their behavior.
Ambady and Rosenthal (1992) referred to this brief observation as a “thin slice.”
For example, students could accurately predict personality traits of an instructor after watching a 30-s video clip (Tom, Tong, & Hesse,2010), while Stillman, Maner, and Baumeister (2010) showed that a 2-s look at a picture of a face was enough to accurately determine a violent or nonviolent past.”
Related
Infidelity: 10 Studies Reveal The Hidden Warning Signs (P)
The study was published in the journal Personal Relationships (Lambert et al., 2014).
