Image: U.S. Army
An admitted affair has crumbled the career of CIA Director David Petraeus, prompting the evergreen question: Why do people with so much to lose risk it all for sex?
In the last few years alone, several public figures, from former Rep. Anthony Weiner to action star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have admitted to straying from their marital vows. In Petraeus' case, a miscalculation of risk may have contributed to the decision to cheat, psychologists say.
"People tend to underestimate how quickly small risks mount up" because of repeated exposure to those risks, said Baruch Fischhoff, a professor of social and decision science at Carnegie Mellon University. "You do something once and you get away with it — certain things you're probably going to get away with — but you keep doing them often enough, eventually the risk gets pretty high."
Even so, men can become blind to risk at the sight of an attractive woman, and from an evolutionary perspective, cheating can be a positive mechanism for ensuring gene survival, regardless of risk, scientists say.
Military affairs
Petraeus, a retired four-star general, resigned his post as CIA Director on Friday (Nov. 9), admitting to an affair with Paula Broadwell, his biographer. Twenty years the general's junior, Broadwell had close access to Petraeus for several years, but their affair reportedly did not start until after he left the military in 2011.
A West Point graduate, Broadwell is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. She reportedly bonded with Petraeus over physical activity, going on runs with him and remaining a close confidant after Petraeus' military career ended.
That time together likely contributed to the intimacy between Petraeus and Broadwell, said Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist, just as many people begin affairs after getting close in the workplace.
Petraeus is not the first high-ranking military man to have an affair, said Farley, who is also a past president of the American Psychological Association. Famously gruff World War II general George Patton had an affair with his wife's step-niece. General Douglas MacArthur had a mistress named Isabel Rosario Cooper, whom he met in the Philippines.
And General Dwight D. Eisenhower, later president, may have had an affair with his World War II chauffer, Kay Summersby, according to the woman's memoirs and some suggestive letters left behind after both parties died.
"The nation should not be surprised at Petraeus having an affair," Farley told LiveScience.
Leaders like Petraeus tend to be bold risk-takers, Farley said, a personality trait that is very helpful when leading soldiers into battle. The same trait may make these leaders more likely to take risks in their personal lives, as well. [10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction]
Broadwell may have some of the same risk-taking traits as the former director. In a January interview with The Charlotte Observer, Broadwell, who is also married, called herself and her husband "adventure junkies."
Risk versus reward
Still, Petraeus' 38-year marriage and his career were at stake in his decision to pursue an affair. Extramarital liaisons are especially risky for CIA employees with access to classified information, because an affair can leave the person open to blackmail.
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10 Comments
Add Comment50% of couples experience cheating by one spouse or another over the course of a marriage. Nothing special about Petraeus. It's just sex with someone who didn't yet think she owned him. The problem for Petraeus was not the sex and the affair, but the woman. After he called it off, Broadwell wouldn't go away.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs the old joke says "Marriage is finding that special someone you can annoy for the rest of your life."
After the affair started, Petraeus likely soon realized that instead of having one woman who would rag on him 24x7, he had two. As from what we currently believe, the affair didn't begin until he came back to the States. He realized he had traded a war in Afghanistan where he was the commander, to a war zone at home, where he commanded nothing. Broadwell was his R&R, a needed respite, until she became just another woman he couldn't handle.
"The risk of destroying a career is nothing compared with the evolutionary drive to reproduce"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat pretty much sums it up.
Many men have more testosterone coursing through their brain than they do actual brain waves.
LarryW - Great post.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso what people don't realise is that these people are not like the rest of us in every sense. They are high energy, highly driven, passionate people. The passion and drive and energy that drives them to the top, while we sit back and enjoy the TV, draws them to risk taking and to seek excitement.
I think it is tragic when people lose jobs etc for affairs. It has NO affect on their job (assuming secrets were not divulged). I couldn't care less if Clinton had sex with 25 interns ! He did a fantastic job. Too much moralising around.
LarryW, your post was probably meant to be funny, but it just sounds sad. Marriage is not at all like what you describe. Or rather, neither party should stand for it to be like that - probably some out there think they are doing it right if they annoy their partner.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowardB,I would propose that in both Clinton and this (now expanding) affair, the issue was not the cheating itself, but rather that in our society, affairs are blackmailable, and both were in positions that could not afford to be blackmailed.
The evolutionary perspective is rather interesting. The evolutionary "desire" has little real value for the likes of Petraeus and his paramour who, likely, had little interest (or even the capability, perhaps) in conceiving a child.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvolutionary impulses apply to a dog, a mountain goat. NOT to a human. Blindly following instincts in a BS excuse for anything - we're rational creatures, didn't you hear? Able to control impulses and decide actions and reactions.
Plus, for a highly intelligent, disciplined and responsible man like this, the 'drive to procreate' theory seems downright ridiculous to me. Bad decisions, definitely; evolutionary drive, hah!
Powerful men like to have their 'extra tush' because they can.
Adultery is unacceptable in these cases because of the potential for blackmail. There is potential for blackmail in these cases because adultery is unacceptable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSimple.
Holly Patraeus has been married to David for 37 years and raised two children, probably alone a great deal of the time. Now, that the children are raised and gone, her usefulness is gone, too, and it's ok for him to fool around with a woman young enough to be his daughter and the mentality of a high school brat. He doesn't seem to be a soldier too concerned with loyalty or honnor. If his marriage was unsatisifying he could have filed for divorce, and gone shopping. Perhaps, he would have found a woman that wasn't already married with two small sons. Someone that didn't need to use anonymous email accounts to send letters to a person she suspected was making advances to a man on which she had no claim. Someone, that didn't have the green eyed monster whispering in her ear when he was out of sight. No matter how much experience and book learing he's had, he's reduced himself to a stupid man getting led around by his...um...nose. If I were Holly, all of his possessions would be in boxes on a truck making their way to Charlotte, NC where David Petraeus can knock on the door and collect them from Scott Broadwell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@Jillnearthesea
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet's pretend for one second that nonsense you wrote is true.
David Petraeus wasn't the only one cheating, Paula Broadwell was cheating on her husband too.
So if sleezy men cheat due to lack of loyalty and honor, why did she?
If he should have divorced his wife and found another woman, what should Paula have done?
We are animals just like the other animal species, and we behave just like they do. In fact, the other animals behave just like we do. Some in our species, like you, believe our larger brains means that we might be more capable of imagining we aren't animals acting like animals but instead are guided by rational thought and civilizing instruction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe sex part couldn't be more primate and more consistent with other animals. Boost a man's testosterone, especially to compensate for declining levels due to age or disease, and one sees sexy women everywhere. Similarly it goes for adding a little T to standard HRT for women. Similar chemical treatments for other animals shows the same results. ** We are the same **.
Evolution would predict these results, and they are confirmed.