Mental Health

Men's Stronger Sexual Impulses Make Them More Likely to Cheat

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Aug 29, 2013 03:04 PM EDT

New research reveals that men are more likely to commit adultery because they have stronger sexual impulses.

While both sexes have the same ability to resist temptation, men are still more likely to have affairs because they have stronger sexual desires, according to scientists.

Researchers had participants report on their urges when they came across a tempting, but forbidden, situation with someone who wasn't their partner.  The study involved 70 men and 148 women.  The participants were on average 32 years old, according to Pacific Standard magazine.

Another study, which involved 600 undergraduates, asked participants to perform a reaction-time test called the "partner selection game" in which they chose to accept or reject potential partners on the computer.

Researchers then used process dissociation to separate the effects of impulse and control.

"In both studies, men succumbed to the sexual temptations more than women," the researchers said, according to Daily Mail.

"And this sex difference emerged because men experienced stronger impulses, not because they exerted less intentional control," the concluded.

Both studies were published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

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