Revealed: How men and women perceive adultery

According to recently conducted studies, members of both sexes have radically different opinions about what adultery or infidelity means to them.

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While sexual infidelity is the primary cause of jealousy among men, woman felt an 'emotional affair', in which the partner develops a close personal bond with someone else is the deal breaker.

Evolutionary psychologists believe that women are especially sensitive to signs that the man is devoting time and attention to other women.

Men on the other hand, react emotionally to signs of sexual infidelity.

These perceptions researchers believe can be uncovered if evolutionary psychology is studied in further detail.

It's the same case with online affairs
A rising cause of concern among couples is the chances of the man or woman embarking on an online affiar, suggest researchers during a recent study, which was conducted in the UK.

Researchers observed subjects, who indulged in internet infidelity and also those at the receiving end of it.

Most women whose partners were cheating on them with an online lover confided that they hated and mistrusted the internet as a result of their experiences.

This was because the internet made covert contact with another person easy and had a dis-inhibiting effect, making it easier to engage in behaviour that might be avoided in real life.

The study also found that the effects of internet infidelity can be as traumatic and wounding as face-to-face adultery, with many participants detailing their ongoing distress and describing the online infidelity as a relationship-ending event.