The smartest people fall more into infidelity

Intelligence is one of the most interesting psychological traits that exist. Knowing our cognitive abilities allows us to know the degree to which we are skillful when it comes to adapt to new challenges, changing environments and, in general, to situations that require a certain degree of improvisation.

But another fascinating aspect of the intelligence is that statistically it also tends to go hand in hand with many other personal, physical, social and psychological characteristics. For example, people with higher IQ scores tend to live longer, earn more money, and look better.

In the world of love and matchmaking, this also has curious implications. For example, it has been seen that smarter people tend to be more unfaithful than the average, a pattern that is especially accentuated in the case of women. Why is this happening?

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The relationship between intelligence and infidelity

A few years ago, the psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa showed that, according to data from 

General Social Surveys, people who answer "yes" to the question "Have you ever had an affair outside of the couple?" tend to score significantly higher on the Inteligence test, even controlling for variables such as social class, ethnicity, educational level and, of course, age.

This difference was somewhat greater in the case of women. In her case, those who had committed an infidelity surpassed by about 3 IQ points those who had fulfilled their commitment, while in the case of men the difference was two points.Why does this happen?

Kanazawa acknowledges that there is no data that clearly indicates why there is such a direct relationship between intelligence and propensity to infidelity, but he makes some hypotheses that could point in the direction correct.

• Related article: "Loyalty: an old-fashioned word?"

Attractiveness, intelligence and genders

First, the researcher highlights a fact that over the years has been proven with You grow up: In general, smarter people tend to be taller and more attractive than the rest.

This means, among other things, that it is less difficult for them to find someone interested in having sex with them. The stereotype of unattractive people who are very intelligent "to compensate" is not confirmed by the data that reality gives us, at least for now.

On the other hand, as an evolutionary psychologist, Kanazawa is convinced that, when it comes to sexual behavior, refers, women have most of the power, since they are the ones who choose how and where the encounters.

From here, Kanazawa draws an interesting reflection. Although it seems contradictory, the most intelligent men tend to value monogamy and fidelity more, something that does not happen with the representatives with higher IQ of the opposite sex. However, as we have seen, in practice both men and women with high intelligence scores are more likely to break this commitment to fidelity. This could be because women with higher IQs have more opportunities to be attractive and to break sexual exclusivity.

As for the latter, the fact that they value sexual exclusivity more could explain why even the most intelligent (and potentially attractive) tend to have fewer adventures. On the other hand, Kanazawa emphasizes that since men have less room for choice in sexual behavior, they cannot be as consistent with their ideals and with their values, under the assumption that to strictly follow their own values ​​it is necessary to have control in that area of ​​the lifetime; in this case, the sexual one.

• You may be interested: "Are men or women more unfaithful?"

A matter of temptations

Thus, the hypotheses that Kanazawa points to have to do with the degree to which the smarter people have to say "no" to a greater number of times to commit infidelities. Women with higher IQs do not value sexual exclusivity more than the average, and for this reason they are somewhat more exposed to falling into temptation, while in the Men that desirability associated with intelligence is partially offset by their positive assessment of monogamy in a sense "ideal".

Of course, there are still many unknowns to solve. For example, if this pattern of behavior, or relationship between IQ and sexual activity, is true in all cultures (probably not). There is also a need for more data on how sexual attractiveness and sexual attractiveness are related. propensity to infidelity: so far only data relating to the latter and the level of of CI.

Finally, it is necessary to remember that we are only talking about numbers, statistical patterns. It is clear that each case is unique and a person is not predestined to be unfaithful because they are gifted, far from it. However, in general, the smartest will probably have had more opportunities to say "no" to offers that seemed irresistible.