New study shows men to be more forgiving about infidelity than women

In a new study conducted by the infamous dating website Ashley Madison known for discreet dating, men were shown to be more forgiving than their female counterparts when it came down to being cheated on.

Men more willing to turn the other cheek

The survey sampled 3,000 participants and found that 85% of female respondents had been forgiven over a previous affair, while only 80% of men had been forgiven for the same offence. In addition, 86% of men answered that they would forgive their partners for cheating on them while only 82% of women reciprocated.

Psychotherapist Lucy Beresford explains that this disparity is contingent on the way that the different genders perceive the notion of relationships. She explains that:

When faced with the idea of cheating, men concentrate on what happened physically. Woman on the other hand are more interested in the emotional impact. The fact men appear to be more forgiving could also be because men and women tend to process their responses to infidelity differently.

The data collected also showed that around a fifth of people having an affair admit to not having sexual intercourse with their secret partner which would contribute to Dr. Beresford's belief that men focus on the physical while women on the emotional:

Men are much more interested in knowing about the physical aspects of an affair and find it hard to forgive when sex is actually involved. Whereas women are much more affected when they believe there has been an emotional connect to the affair.

And added:

They are much less likely to forgive emotional infidelity in an affair relationship, and men are much less likely to forgive physical infidelity.

Which country cheats the most frequently?

The research ultimately found that people in Ireland are the most active cheaters with up to 20% of respondents admitting to go behind their partner's backs on the daily.

Germans came in second place with 13%, Colombia in third (eight percent), France in fourth (six percent) and finally the UK came in fifth place with five percent.