Evaluating the relationship between sexual arousal and mindfulness on probability discounting within infidelity

Being part of a committed and satisfying relationship is frequently cited as one of the most deeply held values of both men and women in the United States and other Westernized countries. Moreover, relationship infidelity is cited as a frequent cause of dissatisfaction and the termination of committed relationships (Bravo et al. Emerging Adulthood, 5(4), 230-240, 2017). Antecedent self-control strategies, such as avoiding arousing events with nonpartners and self-control strategies like practicing mindfulness to increase sensitivity to temporally extended contingencies of infidelity could serve an abative function that reduces the probability of infidelity. In the present study, we evaluated multiple contextual factors in a randomized control trial design. Participants completed a probability discounting task developed by the experimenters under the hypothetical situation of being in a relationship differing in satisfaction, where they chose to cheat or not cheat on their partner as a function of the subjective attractiveness of the nonpartner and the probability of getting caught by their current partner. Half of the participants then completed the same task after watching a 5-min arousing scene from a movie based on a preference assessment, while the other participants completed 5 min of guided meditation. Results showed that the overall probability of infidelity was greater with lower relationship satisfaction. Moreover, an arousing context may momentarily increase probability discounting whereas mindful meditation may decrease probability discounting, suggesting more research is needed in this area.