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Psychodynamic psycholgy
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The Psychology of Infidelity
Infidelity is the act of unfaithfulness to a person, union or situation. Marriage infidelity is a common phenomenon that is almost as equally participated in by wives as well as husbands.
There is a significant amount of time dedicated to the subject. Everything from talk shows to weekly dramas, rely on the topic of infidelity for ratings.
How to avoid and/or survive infidelity are usually the topics. But rarely does one address the psychology of infidelity. People cheat for various reasons – but they all do it for some sort of psychological stimulation. Here are the main psychological roots of infidelity.
Insecurity
Insecure adulterers may feel insecure about the fortitude of their marriage. The insecurity may be personal, whereas one feels unworthy of their spouse. They don’t feel on equal level to their spouse and always fear that they will lose their spouse and marriage. The fear becomes great in these people and they seek ways to resolve it. Believing that the dissolution of their marriage is inevitable, they never consider options such as counseling. Instead they turn their attention to minimizing their fear and pain. This is where an affair enters. The affair serves as security for if the marriage ends. The adulterer feels that they have a safety net to rely upon. They may also choose a partner who they feel equal or superior to. This temporarily relieves their feelings of inadequacy.
Control
The ...
Instead of directly answering the question, the author is attempting to understand the different components and details of adultery and sexual immorality. The analysis is evaluating moral and immoral actions and behaviour when it comes to marriage. According to Wasserstrom (1985), “immorality of such things as breaking a promise, deceiving someone,
In short story “The Cheater’s Guide to Love,” written by Junot Diaz, we observe infidelity and the negative effects it has on relationships. Anyone who cheats will eventually get caught and will have to deal with the consequences. People tend to overlook the fact that most relationships are unlikely to survive after infidelity. Trust becomes an issue after someone has been unfaithful. Yunior, the main character in this story, encounters conflict as he struggles to move on with his life after his fiancée discovers that he has been unfaithful. Over a six-year period, the author reveals how his unfaithfulness has an effect on his health and his relationships.
He addresses the idea by posing two questions: “1. in what context does adultery fall into being immoral; 2. what adultery is exactly with the help of arguments supporting his main idea” (Wasserstrom, 1985, p.240). According to Wasserstrom (1985), adultery occurs when a promise is broken and the action would be considered “morally wrong” in extramarital relations (p.241). Adultery in marital relations occurs when one person in the marriage engages in sexual activity with someone outside their marriage, hence breaking the agreement that was made by either person to not commit the act (Wasserstrom, 1985, p.241). This is generally the traditional concept of adultery across many different cultures in monogamous marriages. People enter into an agreement to getting married with the one person, therefore trusting that person to not engage in any sexual relations after marriage. The aftermath with when one spouse has committed the adulterous act, the other spouse may feel that there is a “lack of sexual desire” for the spouse from spouse who committed the act (Wasserstrom, 1985, p.
In this paper I am writing about marriage and infidelity in modern life and the books we have read in class. Marriage is a mutual bond in which a man and a woman decide to be with each other until they die. Infidelity is basically when the man or woman in a relationship cheat on the other person, without them knowing.
did cheat. This article discusses how infidelity is popular in both men and women no
Ultimately, this means that it comes down to how one perceives and comprehends the question being asked. In other words, males associated acts of sexual infidelity with emotional (‘love’), triggering more distress. Similarly, but not in the same way, females are more distressed by emotional infidelity, even though it may or may not be associated with sexual infidelity. Therefore, sex is not a biological factor in determining jealousy – rather it’s the social context and one’s understandings and
A man has been married to his wife for seven years. The couple has two beautiful children, a fabulous home, and appear to have the perfect marriage. After the husband leaves work one afternoon, he decides to stop in at the local bar. The man sits at a table in the corner of the room. Not long after his arrival, a woman approaches him. She asks the man if she can join him at his table. The two seem to have quite a bit in common and enjoy each other’s company. The woman asks if he would like to go back to her apartment. He has not had a fight with his wife today. In fact, she surprised him with a love note in his briefcase. Their sex life is enjoyable, frequent, and without complaint. The couple is not currently having financial problems. Despite this, why did the man decide to leave with a stranger and cheat on his wife? A great deal of research has been carried out on the topic of infidelity. Marital therapists have reported that more than half of the couples they counsel are in therapy as a result of infidelity (Atkins, Jacobson citation). Therapists also consider an extramarital affair as, “one of the most damaging relationship events and one of the most difficult problems to treat in couples therapy” (whisman predicting sexual infidelity…). Some therapists estimate that 50% to 65% of couples seek help after an incident of infidelity in their relationship (Atkins, Jacobson & Baucom). Identifying the reasons for this problem are essential to the success of its reduction. Infidelity is not a new phenomenon. However, there was little research on the topic until the late 1970’s (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). Numerous factors have been examined while trying to determine the root cause for extramarital relationships a...
Infidelity really isn't anything new. It's as old as civilization itself. The only thing that's changed is that today's world is driven by technology and so it's easier than in the past to get intimate with another person. At the same time, it's also easier to have paranoid/apprehensive
It is widely believed that men and women respond differently to infidelity in the way they think and act (Buss, Larsen, Westen & Semmelroth, 1992; Takahashi et al., 2006; Walum et al., 2013). Past research has found that women tend to report more
Carpenter, C. J. (2012). Meta-analyses of sex differences in responses to sexual versus emotional infidelity: Men and women are more similar than different.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36(1), 25-37.
...). Whatever motivation there is to cheat on a spouse, there is not an acceptable reason to do it.
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
Adultery is a horrible sin to commit, but it can actually be avoided, although many people in today's society respond differently based on their religion and culture. When a person commits adultery they fail in keeping his/her commitment to their partner. When adultery happens the trust is broken in the relationship and the other person will feel deceived and betrayed.
The first form of adultery is Accidental Infidelity. This can happen to the more careless person, but at the same time, to the person whose values and commitments are tenuous. They lack self-control and respect for both themselves and their spouse. Any situation where they are left alone with the opposite sex is an opportunity for an “accident” to occur. It was shocking to find out that most cases of infidelity occur with couples who are less than twenty -five years old, one would have thought early marriages where happy and care free (figure one).
The Immorality of Adultery Sex is believed, by some, to be a universal language, one that is free