Interpersonal trust and self-perception of heterosexual charm moderate potential for betraying one's romantic partner

• Yangjun Tu

  Hunan University

• Yaguang Chen

  Dalian Jiaotong University

• Yi Guo

  Hunan University

• Zhi Yang

  Hunan University

• Xin Jiang

  Hunan University

We examined whether or not interpersonal trust and self-perception of one’s heterosexual charm moderated the potential to betray one’s romantic partner. To enable free expression, we asked college students (N = 271) to imagine the possibility of a relationship breakup occurring between couples described in 4 vignettes. The results showed that the men believed that couples were more likely to break up when the woman in the partnership experienced a dramatic change for the worse in her physical appearance, but the women thought that couples were more likely to break up when the man in the partnership experienced a dramatic worsening of his economic status. Interpersonal trust and self-perception of heterosexual charm more strongly affected the perception of the male participants that a couple would break up when there was a change for the worse in the physical appearance of the woman partner, and these 2 factors also strongly affected the perception of the female participants that a couple would break up when there was a dramatic worsening of the economic status of the man in the partnership.

1. Yangjun Tu, Hunan University
   Research Institute of Educational Science
2. Yaguang Chen, Dalian Jiaotong University
   School of Economics and Management
3. Yi Guo, Hunan University
   School of Business
4. Zhi Yang, Hunan University
   School of Business
5. Xin Jiang, Hunan University
   School of Business

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