title: So far away from one's partner, yet so close to romantic alternatives: avoidant attachment, interest in alternatives, and infidelity.
abstract: Temptation pervades modern social life, including the temptation to engage in infidelity. The present investigation examines one factor that may put individuals at a greater risk of being unfaithful to their partner: dispositional avoidant attachment style. The authors hypothesize that avoidantly attached people may be less resistant to temptations for infidelity due to lower levels of commitment in romantic relationships. This hypothesis was confirmed in 8 studies. People with high, vs. low, levels of dispositional avoidant attachment had more permissive attitudes toward infidelity (Study 1), showed attentional bias toward attractive alternative partners (Study 2), expressed greater daily interest in meeting alternatives to their current relationship partner (Study 5), perceived alternatives to their current relationship partner more positively (Study 6), and engaged in more infidelity over time (Studies 3, 4, 7, and 8). This effect was mediated by lower levels of commitment (Studies 5-8). Thus, avoidant attachment predicted a broad spectrum of responses indicative of interest in alternatives and propensity to engage in infidelity, which were mediated by low levels of commitment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. nathan.dewall@uky.edu
authors.forename: C Nathan
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Dewall
authors.forename: Nathaniel M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Erica B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Slotter
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Pond
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deckman
authors.forename: Eli J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Finkel
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Luchies
authors.forename: Frank D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Fincham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D009042:Motivation; D009769:Object Attachment; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students; D055815:Young Adult