cheating, is it a genetic disorder?

“Once a cheater always a cheater.” Isn’t that what they always say? Usually you always hear people say that it’s complete BS and that people can learn from their mistakes. I’m sure that happens but new research has shown that cheating is engraved in your genes and so no matter what path of goodness you’re on, you’re going to end up cheating. To start off, it might be interesting to know that 3% of all mammals are monogamous, humans included. Whether or not people are made for just one person is a topic that always leads to immense discussions since the idea of having “one great love” and “the one” has people committing to one person – and staying with them ’til death do us part.’ If you look at it from an evolutionary point of view, monogamy originated from the one parent (the male) who hunted down food while the other parent (the female) took care of the offspring. Nowadays it’s a whole other ball game: one in three marriages ends in a divorce and there are very few couples who are completely and utterly monogamous.

There isn’t too much scientific research we can base this on, but new studies show some interesting new insights. Whether or not someone will or has cheated before is apparently something you can find out through their genes. The build up of dopamine receptors plays an important role and I’ll spare you all the confusing details but what it comes down to is the following.

Dopamine is often referred to as a “happy hormone” and is responsible for experiencing happiness, pleasure and well being. So then you’ve got your personality traits and your appearance that are (partially) determined by your genes, where different versions of a gene lead to different traits. An ‘allele’ is a variant form of a gene, and that is precisely the heart of the matter.

You have short and long alleles and research has shown that 55% of the subjects with long alleles have cheated before opposed to the 22% of the people with short alleles. Tadaa! The idea behind it is that people with long alleles give in to temptation much easier than short ones. Plus, that same group also had a higher likelihood in excess alcohol and drugs abuse and they aren’t the kind to shy away from risks.

Well there you have it. If you meet a guy who’s got a history of crossing the line? Fat chance he’ll be faithful to you.

P.S.: to anyone who’s more familiar in the world of genes and alleles and doesn’t agree with anything write above, please feel free to drop me a line.