Cheating early on in relationships is more detrimental
POSTED January 11, 2009 - 18:52 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Shikha Patial on January 11, 2009 - 19:25
Ohio, United States, January 11: Earlier the Better!! The idiom for once does not hold water. The results of a new research have revealed that sooner the faith is broken in a relationship; the harder it is to mend the bond. It is difficult to fix a relationship, if the infidelity factor creeps in very early in relationships.
Robert Lount, co-author of the study and assistant professor of management and human resources at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business said, "First impressions matter when you want to build a lasting trust. If you get off on the wrong foot, the relationship may never be completely right again. It’s easier to rebuild trust after a breach if you already have a strong relationship."
Lount observed that the results of the study contradicted the popular perception, especially seen in Hollywood, that one can develop a magnificent, adoring relationship later in life, even if the 'first sight' vibrations are that of hatred.
For the purpose of the study, two experiments were conducted. The participants, college students, were made to play the popular game 'prisoner's dilemma'. In one team, the partners broke the trust of their buddies at the start of the game, while in the other team the partners broke the trust of their buddies a little bit later or at the end of the game.
At the end of the game, the participants had to fill a feedback form. The end assessment revealed that that the participants betrayed at the start of the game thought that their partners were not trustworthy. The other team betrayed at the end did not have a negative perception about their partners.
Lount observed, "An immediate breach of trust is particularly difficult to overcome, and later breaches are considerably less harmful. Our results suggest that immediate breaches are especially costly because they seriously damage the impressions people have about their partner, and that’s hard to repair."
The findings of the study have been published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin issue.
