Affairs: How to Have One

A friend and I recently exchanged a series of emails regarding a certain public official's once-again public affair. "How," we mused, "did this man ever attract a beautiful young woman?"

But of course we knew the answer: power.

Even the most casual political observer won't be surprised by this. Power is attractive. So is the swagger that comes with power. And, over the course of working long hours with young staffers (fueled, no doubt, by the politician's patriotism), infidelity becomes an increasingly likely possibility.

Of course this is true outside of politics as well. Power does contribute to the likelihood of having an affair. But here's the bombshell: it's true for powerful women just as much powerful men.

A new research study published in the journal Psychological Science asked over 1500 people about their level of power at work, their confidence levels, and their perception of risks associated with infidelity.

Two important findings came to light:

• There's a strong link between power and confidence, and the amount of confidence someone has is the strongest connection between power and cheating, and
  
• The gender of powerful people makes no difference on past infidelity or on their desire to be unfaithful.

You can read more in this article from US News & World Report.

The article and the research study draw no conclusions about how to counteract the Bermuda Triangle of power > confidence > cheating, so we're left to draw our own. My advice? You can start by not marrying a politician.