Powerful women cheat as much as men

Summary of story from usnews.com April 28, 2011.

Power appears to be a more important factor than gender to determine who cheats on their spouse, according to a new study published in the journal ‘Psychological Science‘.

The popular notion that men are more likely than women to cheat is simply due to the fact that men occupy more positions of power than women, according to researcher Joris Lammers.

People assume that gender is the strongest predictor in infidelity, but this is because very little research on the subject has been done on powerful women, according to the researchers.

“As more and more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behavior may also change. This may lead to increased negative behaviors among women that in the past have been more common among men,” Lammers said.