Although love is blind, apparently a person outside of your relationship could expose infidelity in just 5 minutes, which has recently been the subject for a study led by researchers in Georgia.
Discover our latest podcast
By observing the behaviour of two ‘lovebirds’, they can see if one of them has cheated or is capable of cheating or not. When a couple doesn’t get on or even hates each other, people can notice really quickly. Some people know just how to act like they’re perfect in the eyes of their partner, so they can calmly let their eyes wander.
The test
Scientists conducted a study with 51 undergraduate students in relationships and asked them to fill out a questionnaire about their cheating history. The couple was then recorded when they were given a drawing task, in which one person (who was blindfolded) was asked to draw something, and the other was told to guide their hand. These tapes were then shown to people who didn’t know the couples, who had to say whether each of the people could cheat on their partner or not. Each observer had to state, on a scale ranging 1 to 5, the probability that one of the students would cheat on their partner.
In the majority of cases, the observers were able to point out the unfaithfulstudents. However, we don’t know how they could know for certain. Maybe if the drawing was done badly, it’s a sign of a lack of communication within the couple, and this could, in turn, lead to infidelity.