I think in general there are numerous problems with the research, but we can only make the most reasonably judgements based on the data that we have.
In any case, hopefully a good example for people on here – an interesting discussion not resorting to personal annoyance.
Ok, back into the abyss…
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1 in 4 women have extra-marital sex over the lifetime of an average marriage, this is pretty high.
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This depends what you mean by high – in my opinion it is low. If 25% is accurate, then in the vast majority of cases it doesn’t happen.
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And, for the following reasons the true number will be much higher. The research only covers married women not other types of commited relationship.
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You would expect a higher rate of cheating in non-marital relationship, right? I certainly would. However, finding references for this has proved tricky. In any case, the review article states that “For women, longer primary relationships seem to have a greater correlation with infidelity than do shorter relationships (Forste & Tanfer, 1996)” That is, there is more female cheating in longer relationships than short ones (though yes, there is also problematic research in this area).
Also, add to this the reasons that women cheat. p5 suggests that in women, “there generally appears to be a greater emphasis on emotional connection than for men,”… “women are more likely to fall in love with the partner with whom they engage in infidelity”
Is this what you would expect if you thought that when women cheat they do so with the attractive, masculine male, ie, 'breeder' or 'cad'? To me, it seems more like provider material.
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Also, it relies upon what people are willing to admit, even in an anonymous study.
….. Surveys, even anonymous ones, can not be trusted.
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We have to use the best measures possible – inevitably a form of disclosure which may have a degree of error. I don’t follow your conclusion here, and think shuts the debate down too early. If you choose not to believe any kind of self-disclosure, discussion is difficult/impossible. Also, I would need to see evidence for this – though it in turn would be difficult to prove, I bet there are references out there.
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According to their research 1 in 10 paternity tests show the child is not the offspring of the supposed father. Again, there are problems in extrapolating from this data to how much infidelity there is out there.
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My thinking on this – 10% is not a high value given the fact that in Britain, I believe that most reproduction is done by people of low socio-economic demographic (with lower education) – chavs, essentially. From my experience, these people cheat like hell. I would imagine that in well-educated and committed relationships cheating of this kind is much lower. Also, there are evolutionary pressure on women not to do it (as the man can then abandon parental care duties if found out) – these need to be overcome in order to do it (via a cost-benefit system). By being a competent and caring male (in a relationship), I this is unlikely.
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Your second link, where it is argued that 60% of women prefer the 'breeder' or 'cad' to the 'provider' or 'dad', also relies upon how people wish to be viewed. The participants may well say that they prefer a dad to a cad, I wonder who they are trying to convince. Probably themselves.
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Does the suggestions above, about the reasons women cheat, change this (in regards to cheating?)?
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kruger/dads-cads.html
the full study.
Yes, they didn’t control for menstrual cycle – potentially problematic as you say.
A reference which suggests that women do go for more ‘masculine’ traits when choosing short-term partners.
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homep...ittInPress.pdf
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One might even pay attention to her menstural cycle and behave accordingly. Or just not let her out of your sight for 5 days a month
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Again, based on the reasons women cheat, do you still think this so?
Cheers
Anthony