Currently involved in a relationship filled with lots of love, romance and sexual desire?Well, don't be surprised if your partner has acted on lustful ambitions for another.New research being done at UCLA is finding surprising correlations between being in a relationship and lust for another person outside the relationship.
Researcher Mari Sian Davies of UCLA recently presented unpublished findings by her team which includes Professors Gian Gonzaga and Marty Haselton as well as graduate student Julie Smurda at a symposium for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
Now worried that your significant other possibly could be betraying you at this very moment?Relax.Davies' report indicates that those in love are actually less likely to act on their lustful desires.But don't get too relaxed just yet.The study's other result is that being in a relationship increases one's feelings of lust for another.
The study involved 53 UCLA college students in romantic relationships.College students were apparently chosenbecause their relationships are more dynamic with a greater probability that they will fade. Relationships between older people often are more cohesive because there is more at stake, including children and social status.
During the study, students were asked to view and then choose pictures of people they found attractive.They then were asked to elaborate why in writing.
Researchers then separated the students into two groups, asking one group to write about their love for their partner, while the other group wrote about sexual desire for their partner.
The researchers broke these groups up further.One group wrote about their partner while suppressing thoughts about the photograph and then repeated this while expressing their thoughts about the person in the picture they selected.The other group did the same thing in the opposite order.
This idea of suppressing one's thoughts was developed by former University psychology professor Dan Wegner.Wegner's study asked people to suppress thoughts about a white bear they were introduced to.
He discovered that actively suppressing thoughts is an ability humans surprisingly lack.Additionally, once the individual is no longer suppressing these thoughts, they become hyper accessible.This means that there is a flood of thoughts about what the person was previously suppressing, right after he or she stops suppressing the thoughts.
What this means for Davies' study is that students who first wrote about their partner while suppressing thoughts about the person in the picture had more thoughts about this person than when the order was reversed.Forcing them to actively suppress these thoughts ultimately resulted in more of the very thoughts they try to suppress.
Of the 85 percent that reported thoughts of the person in the photo, Gonzaga noted that "between 15 and 20 percent actually pursued a relationship with the person in the picture, whether that meant breaking up with their former partner or just flirting with the person casually."
All this sounds depressing for those in love.Fortunately, emotions like love can help suppress lustful thoughts.Participants that expressed love for their partner were less smitten with the person in the photo, focusing on conflict resolution, intimacy and commitment in their relationships instead of intense sexual desire.
Even after experiencing these thoughts of desire for the photographed individual, Dr. Gonzaga, said, "around 20 percent felt guilty and resolved to spend more time in their current relationship."
It may be important to keep in mind how the study quantified love.Gonzaga described love as "a momentary experience of feeling closely connected to someone."
The researchers evaluated the degree of love in these relationships by analyzing the subject's thoughts about his or her lover for expressions of feelings like happiness, sympathy and amusement.
The lesson to be learned from this study is that, as the saying goes, true love conquers all, but do keep a watchful eye on your significant other just in case.
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