Fighting temptation
When A flirtatious vamp or a sexy hunk tries to intrude on a committed relationship, men are more likely to tumble to temptation and women more likely to reinforce the emotional fortress to protect their relationship, according to studies reported in the July issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “Men may have the will, but not the way,” says lead author John Lydon, a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal.
Researchers presented 724 heterosexual volunteers, mostly college-age, with a scenario involving an attractive member of the opposite sex. They were then asked to fill in blanks in a word game. Men saw B E _ A _ E and were likely to write “became.” Most women wrote “beware.” Given L O_ A L, men wrote “local,” but women, “loyal.” “A situation with an attractive alternative implicitly brings to mind threat and commitment for women, but not for men,” Lydon says.
If women have a stronger internal voice that says, “If tempted, then defend,” researchers tried teaching such thinking to men. Half were coached in strategies to protect their relationships, then all were presented with computer temptations: virtual reality hussies urging them to come hither. Though 75% of untrained men went through the virtual door of temptation, only 38% of trained men succumbed.
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