We’ve heard before that genes can influence infidelity. But in today’s Times, Tara Parker-Pope reveals experiences — and even “training” methods — that may make people more faithful.
Parker-Pope references the so-called “love-rat gene,” which helps regulate the hormone vasopressin and which, in one variation, can predispose men toward unstable relationships. But in a reminder that biology isn’t destiny, she also describes a McGill University study in which none were “train” to resist the temptation to cheat. The men, all in committed relationships, were asked to imagine encountering an attractive woman while their girlfriends were away. Researchers then asked some of them to complete the sentence, “When she approaches me, I will __________ to protect my relationship.” Surprisingly, this simple task influenced the men’s behavior. When they later played a video game that included rooms with subliminal images of women, those who had completed the sentence went to these rooms far less often than those who had not.
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