![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
Data from a large survey of 1,561 professionals were used to examine the relationship between power and infidelity and the process underlying this relationship. Results showed that elevated power is positively associated with infidelity because power increases confidence in the ability to attract partners. This association was found for both actual infidelity and intentions to engage in infidelity in the future. Gender did not moderate these results: The relationship between power and infidelity was the same for women as for men, and for the same reason. These findings suggest that the common assumption (and often-found effect) that women are less likely than men to engage in infidelity is, at least partially, a reflection of traditional gender-based differences in power that exist in society.
Keywords power, sex, infidelity, status, emancipation
References
Section:
| Allen, E., Atkins, D., Baucom, D., Snyder, D., Gordon, K., Glass, S. (2005). Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual factors in engaging in and responding to extramarital involvement. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 12, 101–130. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Amato, P., Previti, D. (2003). People’s reasons for divorcing: Gender, social class, the life course, and adjustment. Journal of Family Issues, 24, 602–626. Google Scholar, SAGE Journals, ISI | |
| Anderson, C., Berdahl, J. (2002). The experience of power: Examining the effects of power on approach and inhibition tendencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1362–1377. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Anderson, C., Galinsky, A. D. (2006). Power, optimism, and risk-taking. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 511–536. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Atkins, D. C., Baucom, D. H., Jacobson, N. S. (2001). Understanding infidelity: Correlates in a national random sample. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 735–749. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Baumeister, R., Vohs, K. (2004). Sexual economics: Sex as female resource for social exchange in heterosexual interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 339–363. Google Scholar, SAGE Journals, ISI | |
| Blow, A. J., Hartnett, K. (2005). Infidelity in committed relationships II: A substantive review. Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, 31(2), 217–233. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Brady, S. E., Lord, C. G., Hill, S. E. (2011, January). Evaluating others based on attractiveness: Power enhances preference for physically attractive partners. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX. Google Scholar | |
| Buller, D. J. (2005). Adapting minds: Evolutionary psychology and the persistent quest for human nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google Scholar | |
| Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1–49. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Buss, D. M., Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204–232. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Campbell, D. E., Wolbrecht, C. (2008). See Jane run: Women politicians as role models for adolescents. The Journal of Politics, 68, 233–247. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Cano, A., O’Leary, K. D. (2000). Infidelity and separations precipitate major depressive episodes and symptoms of nonspecific depression and anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 774–781. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| DeMaris, A. (2009). Distal and proximal influences on the risk of extramarital sex: A prospective study of longer duration marriages. Journal of Sex Research, 46, 597–607. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Eagly, A. H., Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles. American Psychologist, 54, 408–423. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Friedman, H. S., Riggio, R. E., Casella, D. F. (1988). Nonverbal skill, personal charisma, and initial attraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 203–211. Google Scholar, SAGE Journals, ISI | |
| Galinsky, A. D., Gruenfeld, D. H, Magee, J. C. (2003). From power to action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 453–466. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Galinsky, A. D., Magee, J. C., Gruenfeld, D. H, Whitson, J., Liljenquist, K. A. (2008). Social power reduces the strength of the situation: Implications for creativity, conformity, and dissonance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1450–1466. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Gonzaga, G., Keltner, D., Ward, D. (2008). Power in mixed-sex stranger interactions. Cognition & Emotion, 22, 1555–1568. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Gordon, K. C., Baucom, D. H., Snyder, D. K. (2004). An integrative intervention for promoting recovery from extramarital affairs. Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, 30, 1–12. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Greeley, A. (1994). Marital infidelity. Society, 31, 9–13. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Keltner, D., Gruenfeld, D., Anderson, C. (2003). Power, approach, and inhibition. Psychological Review, 110, 265–284. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Kenrick, D. T., Keefe, R. C. (1992). Age preferences in mates reflect sex differences in reproductive strategies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 15, 75–133. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Kraaykamp, G. (2002). Trends and countertrends in sexual permissiveness: Three decades of attitude change in The Netherlands 1965–1995. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 225–239. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Kunstman, J. W., Maner, J. K. (2011). Sexual overperception: Power, mating motives, and biases in social judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 282–294. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Lammers, J., Stoker, J. I., Stapel, D. A. (2010). Power and behavioral approach orientation in existing power relations and the mediating effect of income. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 543–551. Google Scholar, ISI | |
| Lee, F., Tiedens, L. (2001). Is it lonely at the top? The independence and interdependence of power holders. Research in Organizational Behavior, 23, 43–91. Google Scholar, Crossref, ISI | |
| Lerner, B. (2011, January). Power, physical attractiveness, and sexual overperception. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX. Google Scholar | |
| Li, N. P., Bailey, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., Linsenmeier, J. A. (2002). The necessities and luxuries of mate preferences: Testing the trade-offs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 947–955. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Magee, J. C., Galinsky, A. D., Gruenfeld, D. H. (2007). Power, propensity to negotiate, and moving first in competitive interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 200–212. Google Scholar, SAGE Journals, ISI | |
| Nattinger, A. B., Hoffmann, R. G., Howell-Pelz, A., Goodwin, J. S. (1998). Effect of Nancy Reagan’s mastectomy on choice of surgery for breast cancer by US women. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 762. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Preacher, K. J., Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline | |
| Smuts, B. (1992). Male aggression against women: An evolutionary perspective. Human Nature, 3, 1–44. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline | |
| Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In Campbell, B. (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man: 1871–1971 (pp. 136–179). Chicago, IL: Aldine. Google Scholar | |
| Tversky, A., Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124–1131. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk. (2010). Member FAQs. Retrieved from http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/memberfaq.html Google Scholar | |
| Whisman, M. A., Snyder, D. K. (2007). Sexual infidelity in a national survey of American women: Differences in prevalence and correlates as a function of method of assessment. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 147–154. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline, ISI | |
| Wilkey, B. (2011, January). Power’s effect on motivating romantic approach. Paper presented at the Close Relationships preconference at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX. Google Scholar | |
| Wood, W., Eagly, A. H. (2007). Social structural origins of sex differences in human mating. In Gangestad, S. W., Simpson, J. A. (Eds.), Evolution of the mind: Fundamental questions and controversies (pp. 383–390). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar | |
| World Values Survey Association. (2000). World Values Survey official data file 2000, v.20090914. Retrieved from http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs/articles/folder_published/survey_2000 Google Scholar |
