Hungry for love: the influence of self-regulation on infidelity.
The current research examines the effect of self-regulation on the likelihood of committing infidelity. Thirty-two college students in exclusive romantic relationships interacted through a private chat room with an opposite-sex confederate. Prior to this interaction, a food-restriction task depleted half the participants of self-control. As predicted, depleted levels of self-regulation increased the likelihood of infidelity. Specifically, depleted participants were more likely to both accept a coffee date from and supply a personal telephone number to the confederate than non-depleted participants. Weakened self-control may be one potential cause for the levels of infidelity occurring in romantic partnerships today.
Monmouth University, Department of Psychology, 400 CedarAve., West Long Branch, NJ 07764, USA. nciarocc@monmouth.edu
Natalie J
NJ
Ciarocco
Jessica
J
Echevarria
Gary W
GW
Lewandowski
D000293:Adolescent; D003380:Courtship; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult