We can see within 5 minutes if someone is cheating

and this is how

Women cheat just as often as men, let that be clear. No one to blame, girls.

All those double lives that partners hide from each other: oops… Just remember one thing: you get caught on that slippery slope faster than you would expect.

Because research shows that we can tell within five minutes if someone cheat. And well, that makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, because being able to spot this means we also know better which men we can better avoid. After all: you don't want to pass on the genes of an unfaithful guy to your own children – and so we easily look for cleaner male stock after just a few minutes.

Anyway, how can we see this so quickly in someone? Because, eh, it's not written on someone's forehead, is it? Researchers have put a group of couples in front of a camera. One of the two love birds was blindfolded and the other had to help them make a drawing. So far, nothing shocking. But people who did not know the couple personally were allowed to watch how they tackled this task.

What turns out: just by observing this simple, social behavior, the viewers could flawlessly indicate which of the two was looking outside the door. Or that they were both doing it, that could of course also be the case. We are surprisingly good at analyzing first impressions – even when it comes to something so personal.

But the striking thing is that we are much less good at this when it comes to people who are close to us. Is your girlfriend's boyfriend cheating on her? There's a good chance you won't notice it at all. Or worse: your own husband is seeing someone else. An even greater chance that you won't see it. According to experts, this is because in such cases we want to believe in the good of humanity and therefore we literally do not want to see it. That phone that keeps beeping?That mysterious dinner with a ‘colleague’ that has now become a weekly occurrence? That ‘spontaneous’ sleepover at his ‘best friend's’ place recently?

As humans, we always want to feel good, so it's somewhat ingrained that we brush off and ignore misfortune. Something about burying your head in the sand, yes. But you can always let a couple of strangers peek at you, then you'll know everything you actually don't want to know.

FACTS

– Women who regularly fake an orgasm have a lover more often.
– In the Netherlands, 15 percent of people say they have had sex with a colleague.
– A third of the cheaters among us spend double the amount of money to look good for their lover.

Source: Psychology Today

Written by: Tessa Heinhuis