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Researchers asked 256 participants to imagine discovering either sexual or emotional infidelity by their partner.
Women and men differed in what they predicted they would do afterward.
Women were more likely than men to predict ending the relationship after emotional infidelity.
Men were more likely than women to predict ending it after sexual infidelity.
The study also found corresponding differences in anticipated forgiveness.
These are average differences from hypothetical scenarios, not rules for how every woman responds.
Still, it suggests that discovering a partner has emotionally fallen for someone else can carry a particularly serious relationship threat for some women.
© Cognition and Emotion (2002)