Women Better at Hiding Infidelity, Research Proves

Women may be better at hiding infidelity than men, new research suggests.

A team at the University of Western Australia arrived at the findings after conducting a study of 1,500 people in hopes of figuring out if it were possible for men and women to pick up on unfaithfulness without coming out right and admitting it. They also wanted to see whether or not it was possible to spot someone of the same sex moving in on their partner, according to a Yahoo report.

For the study, researchers showed participants the photos of 189 Caucasian adults, 101 of the images were of men and 88 were of women, and then asked respondents to rank the faces according to whether they were "not at all likely to be unfaithful" or "extremely likely" to cheat. They found that women were better able to detect infidelity in men's faces.

This means that, based on the result published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, women are either far better at hiding unfaithfulness or much better at spotting it. Either way, men were more likely to be caught.

Furthermore, researchers found that both sexes were not deterred by the relationship status of a potential mate — in fact, 70 percent of people across more than 50 cultures admitted to trying to "poach" another person's partner. At least 60 percent were successful. The study noted that men were more likely able to spot potential poachers among other men.

While these findings could change the dating game, researchers urged people to avoid jumping to conclusions, especially on first dates.

"If we are to rely solely on our first impressions to detect cheaters/poachers, then we will make substantial errors," Yong Zhi Foo said, according to Yahoo. "Our results must not be taken to mean that first impressions can be used in any everyday situations."

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