Physical Attraction and its Effects on the Perception of Extra-Marital Affairs

Abstract

The institution of marriage has existed almost since the beginning of mankind and extra-marital affairs have existed since the institution of marriage. Affairs, although forbidden in most societies, are quite prevalent (3). Most individuals know someone who is or has engaged in an extra-marital affair and on the basis of that act has made some assessment of the actors engaged in that behavior. History is replete with examples, such as David and Bathsheba in the Bible, Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, and the putative affairs of Presidents Jefferson, Eisenhower, and Roosevelt. A dearth of material exists on this topic in the psychological literature although it is common behavior as well as an excellent vehicle for the study of person perception. Hattnett and colleagues (1, 2) found that the impression of a cheating spouse is in part a function of the presence or absence of love in an affair and the presence or absence of children in the marriage. The present study was an exploratory one examining the function of physical attractiveness and its determinants on perception toward action engaged in an affair. Sub jeca were 64 male and 64 female unmarried undergraduate students. Equal numbers of males and females, 32 per cell, were randomly assigned across four conditions to read one of four short vignettes describing a married couple. In two of the vignettes, the husband was having the affair and in the other two vignettes it was the wife. Amactiveness was manipulated by having the cheater described as much more attractive than the other spouse in half the conditions and much less atttactive in the other half. After reading the vignettes the subjects were asked to rate the protagonists (husband, wife, ocher person) on a seven-point semantic differential. Analysis indicated that both husband and wife were viewed less favorably when they were identified as the cheater. They were rated (p < .01) lower on the adjectives good (M = 3.8 vs 5.6), sensitive (M = 2.9 vs 5.1), considerate (M = 3.1 vs 5.2), happy (M = 4.2 vs 4.9). and practical (M = 3.9 vs 5.9). From inspection of the interactions of the attraction x cheat and the attraction X cheat X sex of subject it is apparent that attraction plays an important role in the perceptual process. When the wife was having an affair the husband was rated as significantly (P < .02) less inter