In forced-choice testing, which infidelity threat triggers women vs men the most?

• A. sexual; emotional
• B. sexual; social
• C. social; sexual
• D. emotional; sexual

Answer: (D)

Forced-choice testing looks at which specific infidelity threat each gender finds more distressing. The pattern found across many studies is that women are most upset by emotional infidelity—the partner forming a deep, committed bond with someone else—while men are most upset by sexual infidelity—the partner’s sexual involvement with someone else. This aligns with evolutionary explanations about relationship investment and paternity certainty: emotional betrayal threatens commitment and resource investment for women, while sexual betrayal directly raises questions of paternity for men. In this format, the pair that reflects this typical pattern is emotional for women and sexual for men, which is why that option is correct.