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Causes Of Infidelity Essay

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Infidelity: Why Do People Cheat?

Introduction

Infidelity is defined as the act or fact of having a romantic or sexual relationship with someone other than one's husband, wife, or partner (Merriam-Webster.com). Although, this is the standard definition of cheating, the subject can hold different meanings to different people. One may feel betrayed by their significant other when only an emotional connection is made with someone outside of the marriage, while another person may not see this as cheating at all. Some feel that a person is only guilty of infidelity if there is sexual involvement. Regardless of the differences of opinions, when one person in a relationship loses the trust of their spouse due to infidelity, …show more content…

In simpler terms, it is human nature to meet, mate and procreate. In an article entitled Why She’s Gotta Have It, Lonnae Parker and Dr. Shirley Glass explain that as humans, we should not expect to feel predisposed to be monogamous. Instead, they report that “early infatuation, enchantment and a sense of swinging from the chandelier with a brand-new lover are nature’s sneaky ways of getting us to hook up often enough to make babies”. Additionally, they report that chemistry gives a euphoric experience and inhibits cheaters to get caught up in the moment of romance with the belief that this feeling will never go away. Unfortunately, all too often it does. Adding to the productive pull of nature, hormones also play a vital role in programming the human brain to reproduce and many times desire more than one mate. These desires can fundamentally correlate with levels of testosterone, which are generally higher in men than in women, in turn giving them a higher sex drive than women. The sex related hormone dominating more so in women, tends to be oxytocin, which is related to nursing offspring. However, these levels can vary extensively as can the sexual desires in men in comparison to women. This could in part explain why research has found that men are more likely to engage in infidelity where sexual intercourse is involved and in

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