Why do people cheat dateline

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. The Daily. This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro. They asked people what, exactly, they would consider being cheating.

The interviewees were a mixture of men and women between the ages of 18 and Their findings were very interesting indeed.

Though we are sure you might have other ideas. No surprises there. Also unsurprisingly, if any of the above happened it would end the relationship there and then. Here are some interesting facts about cheating. The following is in no particular order as is not exhaustive.

That's 1 in 4 married couples. Men are more likely to cheat on their partners, according to studies. It's unclear if this is because they are cheating more than usual or they have become more comfortable in admitting the fact. But another study by ifstudies. In some cases, like between the ages of , women come out on top so to speak. When people cheat they are most likely to do it with someone they know. From friends to co-workers, the reason is that they have more opportunity to do so.

It is probably also because they might be looking for more than just sex. Many might be looking for intimacy or emotional connections lacking in their existing relationship. There is actually some truth behind the saying "once a cheater, always a cheater.

A variety of reasons, says Weiss. It depends on how often the eye wanders, and when it does, if it lingers. Recent research from Florida State University examined how couples married for just over three years reacted to photos of potential partners. They also discovered a tendency to put your partner above all others by devaluing or downgrading the attractiveness of potential romantic partners lowered the risk of infidelity.

A study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior found those who strayed in their first relationship were three times more likely to stray in their next relationship.

And those who suspected their partners were stepping out on them were four times more likely to think their next partner was as well. So why do women stray? Experts say it is often because they too are looking for an emotional connection. Gail Saltz: For women, the biggest sexual organ is the mind. And that is what drives the infidelity, I believe. Gail Saltz: They want to be with a man who they feel understands them and emotionally connects with them. And that is what's exciting. For some women, that emotional infidelity is enough.

Others move on to sex. Either way, Saltz says, women often say having an affair is like doing a particularly intoxicating drug. And Saltz says there's a lot of truth to that description because the body does produce a chemical called dopamine. Gail Saltz: That is what is released and exists in very high levels during new lust. It is-- about repetitive excitement, risk taking, new experience.

While Saltz and Neuman say that men and women stray for similar reasons -- because they want an emotional connection -- each sex finds its reward in different ways. For many women, it's in the words whispered by a lover.

Gail Saltz: She is looking for a man to say, "I can't do without you. You-- you are so hot and you are so incredible. And we so connect on an emotional level that, you know, I have to have you. Gail Saltz: A man is -- is really enjoying the sexual act, the newness of being with somebody different and that is very intoxicating.

But science may soon be able to pinpoint the people who are predisposed to cheat. And tell us who is lying -- and who is not. Maybe the mysteries of the heart are not written in the stars, or the scriptures, or a hallmark card. Maybe they're written in our dna.

Maybe some of us are born to be more faithful in love. And maybe, just maybe, we'll figure out why with the help of this little guy Larry Young: This guy is really important for our research because he's one of the few species that are monogamous. So this male when he mates with a female he forms a lifelong bond Larry Young is a neuroscientist with Emory University. It seems male voles and male humans may have similar chemistry going on in the brain, caused by a special gene. Larry Young: At least in animals we know that it is involved in the formation of the bond between the male and the female.

And we don't know for sure that it's happening in people but there is intriguing evidence that that may be the case. But not every male prairie vole follows this script.

Larry Young: Have a much more difficult time forming bonds, and in fact, may never form a bond. They're called wanderers. And that difference may be playing out in humans. A Swedish study compared a singular gene among many men. Some men had a variation in the gene. Larry Young: What they found was, that a-- individuals with a particular variant-- were twice as likely to report a crises in their marriage in the last year.

And also, interestingly, the spouses of those people with this particular variant, express more dissatisfaction in their relationship. Could a variation in a gene explain why some men are cheaters while others remain true? It's possible. It's also possible that a better understanding of how these genes work can lead us to a brave new world of matrimony, where science weeds out the potential cheaters. Larry Young: If we believe that certain-- variation in certain genes can predict the quality of relationship that one has, then-- you may wonder why not-- genotype my potential partner.

Science has a long way to go before we can cherry pick our mates based on genes. But maybe it is ready to help us figure out if the ones we have are telling us the truth Steve Laken: It takes the brain a lot more energy to lie than it is to tell the truth. Steve Laken runs Cephos, one of a handful of companies pioneering the use of MRIs for spotting deception. The way it works is simple.

Because telling a lie requires more blood flow to the brain, the machine may spot it. Steve Laken: As the neurons in the brain are firing, blood flows to those neurons that provide-- energy to those neurons. And that small amount of increase in blood flow, results in a small increase in the intensity of-- of the MRI. And today, a new client has come to test Dr. Laken's amazing machine: Ed Hooke. He's admitted to four affairs in the past.

His wife Marie still doesn't believe he's made a full confession. Then he gets dressed and is ready for step two. The machine. He's given the questions again via a computer screen inside the MRI. First, he's told to lie to all of the questions about his infidelity. Then he's asked to answer the same questions again, this time answering truthfully. A computer program is always measuring blood flow to the brain.

Within an hour, the results are in. The image on the left shows him intentionally lying about how many affairs he had. There's a lot of blood pumping in red, as should be expected. The image on the right shows him answering the same questions truthfully. There's less blood pumping. That indicates less lying. Good news for Ed. Steve Laken: And our conclusion is that you were telling the truth on having only four affairs.

But Ed was also asked questions about his first affair, and how many times it was sexual. This is what Ed told us about his first fling.

Hoda Kotb: You're saying in the whole year of the affair, you only slept with her once Well, let's see. On the left is his brain intentionally lying about how often he had sex with the first mistress. The blood is pumping.

Now on the right. Ed's brain is trying to answer the same questions honestly. That he had sex only once. But here, there seems to be as much blood pumping. That indicates lying. Not good news for Ed. Laken: --was that you were lying when you were saying that there was only sex one time and that it was just an emotional affair. Ed Hooke: I will swear to the day I die, and this is not being deceived, and I will take these tests till the day I die to prove that I only had sex with xxx one time, and it was not intercourse.

And I will swear to that. And yet, this new type of lie detector is considered more scientific than the old polygraph test, because it relies on computers, not subjective humans, to ask the questions and determine the results. It's even being used in court cases. For Marie, the lying test has raised new doubts. Maybe he hasn't told her all the details of each and every fling.

Marie Hooke: It makes me just wonder about other things in general that I don't know about to ask questions about. That there could be lies and deception that I have no way of knowing. Now Marie has a decision to make. Should she still try to salvage her marriage?

Given this show of truth and lies, is there anything left to save? The way you view marriage and infidelity is a bit like peering at Rorschach tests Everyone sees something a little different in those dark stains. How many affairs are too many to get past? How many lies before the hill becomes insurmountable?

The answers are often different for every couple. Gary Newman: People repair their marriage even after multiple affairs. It can happen. So your marriage isn't over until it's over. But family counselor M. Gary Neuman says, in his experience, there is one thing every cheater ultimately must do if he or she really wants to repair the marriage they've shattered.

Come clean. Gary Newman: Whatever I need to do-- if I have to apologize to you times, if six months later you still want to look at my cell phone, I understand 'cause I-- I cheated.

And chances are, I lied to you and drove you crazy. But what happens when a spouse won't come clean? For most of their marriage, Ed Hooke hid his affairs from his wife Marie. But now, Ed insists he's told her the everything.