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Simply noticing an attractive person isn't necessarily the important part.
Researchers studied desire for an alternative partner across three studies involving 1,178 participants.
Greater desire for someone outside the relationship was associated with greater ambivalence toward the current partner.
Importantly, the desire itself appeared more consequential than simply having an attractive alternative around.
Greater ambivalence was then connected with poorer personal and relationship well-being.
Sometimes the relationship threat isn't that another attractive person exists—it's what feelings begin developing toward them.
© Emotion (2023)