Coping with mate poaching: gender differences in detection of infidelity-related threats

a r t i c l e i n f o People often aspire for true love and committed romantic relationships. These relationships, however, are recurrently threatened by partner infidelity. The present research tested a new infidelity-detection model, the rivalry sensitivity hypothesis, that posits that women are more sensitive to cues of infidelity than men are, and tend to focus their attention on potential rivals in their mate's vicinity, whereas men show increased sensitivity of their own partners. In a series of four studies, we found that women displayed greater alertness to cues of potential partner unfaithfulness than did men, were quicker and more accurate in detecting cues of infidelity, but were not better than men in detecting other threats. Women also focused their attention on potential rivals (other women), whereas men's attention was specifically directed at monitoring their own partner's intents. These findings suggest that women and men have developed different strategies aimed at achieving a similar outcome – mate retention. Long-term romantic commitments fulfill people's needs for love, intimacy, and companionship, and may significantly contribute to well-being and life satisfaction (e.g., Dush & Amato, 2005). Nevertheless , many relationships that were intended to last eventually dissolve, and even within relationships that persevere the rate of infidelity is substantial. Approximately 22–25% of men and 11–15% of women indicate that they have engaged in extramarital sex (see Allen et al., 2005 for a review). These rates increase to about 70% when including significant emotional involvement with other partners or adulterous behaviors that are not defined as full intercourse strategies to detect threats to the relationship have arisen during human evolution among both women and men (Buss, 2002; Harris, 2003). Of specific interest are the mechanisms that were evolved to address mate poaching (i.e., attempts to lure people away from their current partners), which is an ongoing threat to relationships, occurring at a high frequency. Research indicates that over 50% of men and women have attempted to poach other people's mates, and that 87% of men and 94% of women in a relationship have been propositioned to have a brief sexual encounter with another person. The mate-guarding hypothesis (Buss, 1988), which constitutes the most widely accepted explanation for these behaviors, suggests that both men and women monitor their mates' behavior to prevent their defection (Buss, 2002). Recently, however, Puts (2010) has contended that men tend to adopt mate guarding strategies, whereas …