In general, human beings hold a strong sense of loyalty, yet cheating or betrayal is still common. But what exactly plagues the mind of your affair partner to do so? Or, to put it simply, what is the psychology behind cheating and lying?

Let’s look at some of the situational factors that make people cheat, as well as what may be going through the mind of a cheating partner in an affair.

Why Might People Cheat?

There are several reasons behind cheating in a primary relationship, including individual, relationship, and situational ones. Even more – when a person chooses to potentially ruin a long-term relationship by getting with some other person, there could be a long string of why it is so.

Let’s take a look at these most common reasons to figure out what may happen to go through our partner’s mind to make them reach the point where they feel the need to cheat.

1. Individual Reasons

Some people cheat or choose to become cheaters because they feel like they are more inclined to cheat than their other partners. They see no point in rebuilding trust in the relationship they had ruined with their infidelity.

Well, some people really can’t help but keep being a cheater. They absorb the rumors much like a sponge soaks up water and use that to justify the reasons they cheated. This dives fairly deep into psychology with the power of suggestion.

Also, don’t underestimate the power of words. If a completely loyal partner keeps hearing from people around about cheating, they might absorb these suggestions and commit some form of infidelity.

2. Relationship Reasons

Sometimes, a person cheats on their partner because they feel like they are in prison in their relationship. In this case, the reasons for cheating include falling out of love with a partner and staying married because they feel the need to stay.

When people move away from each other before a divorce, cases of infidelity may appear. Here are the main reasons why cheating during separation happens:

• being convinced that a person only married you for money,
• marriage without love,
• a lack of desire between the partners.

3. Situational Reasons

The last set of reasons mostly refers to logistics. Here are the most common situations when they come into play:

• Huge life changes: Situations such as marriage or bringing children into the world can cause major anxiety in most people. For some, it can get out of control to the point of infidelity.
• Outside influences: Our mental health may take a nose dive, and we find ourselves in self-destructive intrusive thoughts. In this case, the decision to cheat comes from being convinced that the current partner has already done that – and everything a partner does will be seen as a potential sign of infidelity.

As a society, we tend to believe that cheating is bad. If you are labeled a cheater, you will forever remain that. But there are times when people take the side of the person in the wrong or even try to outright blame the person who had been cheated on for their partner’s infidelity.

When it comes to the psychology of cheating, it’s good to look at some facts about it. After all, many kinds of lies surround cheating but only a few truths.

While many misconceptions surround the idea of cheating, they seem to stem from two major ideas: a lack of sex and an unhappy relationship behind this deed. Let’s demystify these two common misconceptions first – and then proceed to the truths you need to know.