SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

For the record, I believe that the General Social Survey out of U Chicago now provides the best statistics - but they know some people lie on face to face interviews, and that's what the GSS is or used to be based on. We also know people lie on anonymous, questionnaire-based, non-face to face surveys.

I once saw a small survey based on both face to face interview and anonymous surveys. IIRC, 6 times as many people admitted cheating on the survey as admitted cheating in the interviews. If that ratio carries through to the GSS, about 150% of men and 100% or women cheat.

@sisoon I'm not sure I understand, but I wasn't referring to the proportion of people who cheat, I meant how well satisfaction within the primary relationship can predict who has affairs.

I asked AI for a better explanation and it gave me: "Low relationship satisfaction is one of the strongest interpersonal predictors of infidelity, yet it explains only a modest portion of the overall statistical variance. Across psychological literature, dyadic elements—such as relationship happiness, romantic love, and overall quality—typically account for roughly 15% to 21% of the variance in who is unfaithful, with notable nuances between genders and relationship types."

You are absolutely right that people's self-reports could be untrue for all manner of reasons, but even if we accept self-report at face value, relationship satisfaction is a very poor predictor of who will have an affair (as I guess we all knew already, but somehow much of couples therapy seems to approach the issue as if that is not the case).

@StrugglingThrough you mentioned that you were resistant to the idea that attachment type has an impact on the unfaithful's actions, but may I inquire if you know what attachment type your husband is?

I wouldn't say I am resistant to it, but I don't think the evidence for it is very strong.

You are absolutely right that people's self-reports could be untrue for all manner of reasons, but even if we accept self-report at face value, relationship satisfaction is a very poor predictor of who will have an affair (as I guess we all knew already, but somehow much of couples therapy seems to approach the issue as if that is not the case).

Which is why we're so cautious here about couples therapy shortly after infidelity is discovered. Many focus on an unmet needs model, when unmet needs have little if anything to do with the choices a cheater makes. That has a way of implying there's at least some fault to be laid at the feet of the betrayed.

Marital issues and unmet needs should absolutely be addressed, but when you introduce infidelity into the mix it creates a whole new wound that overshadows pretty much any preexisting issues.

I look at it as if a couple is in a triage room. The cheater might have a broken leg, but the betrayed spouse is lying on the floor bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the chest. The broken leg needs attention for sure, but you have to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound and get that person stabilized first before dealing with the broken leg.

It's a very good point. Sadly the fact remains that many of these therapists are continuing to operate from this or other restrictive types of models, to charge a lot of money for it, and to cause harm. Some publish information in books, online or on social media along the same lines which I'm sure also harms people.

"Unmet needs" implies that there was something the spouse could have supplied that would have prevented the affair. Often there was not. Shame, inadequacy, emptiness, and a chronic sense of not being enough are internal problems, not marital shortages.

"Validation" is often the wrong word. Many affairs provide ego reinforcement, not validation. Feeling desirable, exciting, important, powerful, or special is different from having one’s feelings understood and acknowledged.

"Novelty" is usually an umbrella term for the more important mechanisms underneath it: escape, transgression, secrecy, uncertainty, anticipation, and an altered sense of self. Newness by itself explains very little.

"Opportunity" explains almost nothing because opportunity is ubiquitous. The real question is why one cultivates it, conceals it, escalates it, and repeatedly returns to it.

Those explanations can also become post hoc rationalizations. Once the behavior exists, the mind has strong incentives to construct a story that makes it feel understandable. Sincerity does not establish causation.

Regarding unmet needs/dissatisfaction of a relationship/attachment style:

I am half the relationship. If I am unhappy, and remain unhappy enough that resentments build- then that is primarily my issue. My perceptions are based not in reality but how I choose to look at the data and also what I choose to do with the data.

This is why I think you see a lot of avoidant/anxious avoidant in the ws camp. We don’t communicate, we don’t like rocking the boat. You add people pleasing to the mix and pretty much you have a recipe for some sort of disaster, if not cheating.

I was so trapped in the mindset that if I make too many demands, waves, etc, then I will not be loved. This was all driven through fear of abandonment/rejection.

I got very good at self abandonment until it reached a crisis point.

And the reality was I just needed to be able to be honest with myself and learn to communicate better, mix in a few things to learn to ask for—-like my husband would get defensive (probably because of how I was presenting what I wanted) and sometimes because he was more assertive/self assured than me came off dismissively. I have learned to ask for not only what I needed in general, but in the moment.

I still feel avoidant, and I still want to take the easier route the only difference is being able to recognize it and having some skills/language to move forward against my instincts. It’s easier today, but I doubt it will ever be natural. I just know what happens over time is worse than facing it head on. I also know better who I am, and that I am worthy of the types of things I would even think to ask for, so there is that driving force of making my life as enjoyable as I can so I don’t want to escape it.

I know many avoidant people who would never have an affair, so I would say it can create deep unhappiness over time but maybe not a predictor of what they would do about the unhappiness?

@LittleMonk I do think novelty is important when it comes to the neurophysiology of affairs. We attend much more to things that are novel and learning about them happens more strongly and quickly.

I think opportunity can be important too, maybe more in terms of opportunity for secrecy than opportunity to meet people who want to sleep with you. Not everyone has equal opportunities to hide how they are spending their time, but certain jobs, social circles etc. offer more of them.

Perhaps novelty plays some role in attention, but I would argue that familiarity also plays a significant role, and possibly a larger one in many affairs.

Workplace affairs are a good example. The affair partner is often someone the person has known for quite a while. Repeated contact creates familiarity, shared context, trust, and increasing personal disclosure long before the relationship becomes an affair.

The more novel elements may be the secrecy, uncertainty, transgression, anticipation, and the experience of stepping outside ordinary life.

You ask a lot of questions, but I think you’re trying to get to the psychological root of the "wayward spouses" (WS). I’m certainly no expert, but I’ve taken a great interest in psychoanalysis—Freud, Lacan, and so on. It seems to me that infidelity—much like the classic neuroses (obsessive, hysterical, or phobic)—involves a fixation and a regression to the Oedipus complex; it’s a return to the "self-mother-father" triangulation. In the case of wayward spouses, this remains unresolved, and they repeatedly regress to the stage of primary narcissism—cycling back through the oral, anal, and phallic phases. They cast the "betrayed spouse" (BS) in the role of the Oedipal mother or father, while using the "other woman" (OW) or "other man" (OM) as a new object of desire. It’s interesting to try and pinpoint the specific phase where the fixation lies—that’s where "their" underlying reason can be found: Oral: hoarding objects. Anal: holding onto them. Phallic: seeking affection or attention. The "law of the father" (the prohibition against incest) and the attempt to transgress it would help explain the allure of the forbidden, and so on. Of course, it’s far more complex than these few off-the-cuff remarks might suggest.

Which is why we're so cautious here about couples therapy shortly after infidelity is discovered. Many focus on an unmet needs model, when unmet needs have little if anything to do with the choices a cheater makes. That has a way of implying there's at least some fault to be laid at the feet of the betrayed.

I don't think talking about unmet needs necessarily implies that there was something the BS could have done to prevent the betrayal. Some people have all their marital needs met and still cheat. Some people have unmet needs and don't cheat... But I do think having unmet needs in your marriage can exacerbate the underlying internal issues a WS has, and make it more difficult for them to make the right choice to remain faithful.

That doesn't remove their responsibility to still make that right choice, no matter how difficult it is. And there are certainly healthier ways to address the unmet needs, or, if they can't be met and marital conditions are intolerable, to end the relationship.

I don't think talking about unmet needs necessarily implies that there was something the BS could have done to prevent the betrayal. Some people have all their marital needs met and still cheat. Some people have unmet needs and don't cheat... But I do think having unmet needs in your marriage can exacerbate the underlying internal issues a WS has, and make it more difficult for them to make the right choice to remain faithful.

That doesn't remove their responsibility to still make that right choice, no matter how difficult it is. And there are certainly healthier ways to address the unmet needs, or, if they can't be met and marital conditions are intolerable, to end the relationship.

I don't think I really disagree with you on that, Morbs. I can see how unmet needs can lead to conditions that might make some people more vulnerable to infidelity than others, but ultimately they're still responsible for the choices they make.

I'm not saying that unmet needs isn't a problem. It can even be a big problem, but there are so many other options for dealing with it that don't involve infidelity.

I do think, if reconciliation is possible and things can be stabilized, it's reasonable to address the issue. Eventually.

But not while the betrayed is still lying on the gurney bleeding out all over the place.

yes indeedy