Beyond personality, attachment, and sociosexuality: How mindset correlates with attitudes and intentions toward infidelity

Abstract

Mindset tightness-looseness refers to the degree to which individuals adhere to social norms, with tighter mindsets favoring strict adherence and looser mindsets allowing greater flexibility. While this concept has been widely studied at the cultural level, its role in romantic relationships-specifically regarding norms of infidelity-remains underexplored. This study examines whether looser mindsets predict more permissive attitudes and intentions toward infidelity and assesses their predictive value alongside personality traits, sociosexuality, and attachment styles. Two studies were conducted: study one included 178 participants from North America, Western Europe, and South/Southeast Asia, while study two replicated the study with 182 UK-based participants. Participants completed measures assessing mindset tightness-looseness, infidelity attitudes and intentions, and individual difference variables. Hypothesis one posited that individuals with looser mindsets would report more positive attitudes and stronger intentions toward infidelity. Hypothesis two proposed that mindset would add predictive value beyond that which is explained by personality, sociosexuality, and attachment styles, in models predicting attitudes and intentions to cheat. Both studies found that looser mindsets were associated with greater acceptance of infidelity. In both studies, models including mindset demonstrated better fit, when predicting infidelity attitudes, than those which only included personality (conscientiousness and agreeableness), sociosexuality (attitudes and desires to engage in casual sex), and demographic factors (age, gender, and world region). It is less clear if mindset adds clear explanatory value when predicting intentions to engage in infidelity or when models include attachment avoidance as a predictor. Looser mindsets contribute to attitudes and intentions toward infidelity, though their influence depends on other individual traits. These findings suggest that mindset tightness-looseness plays a role in shaping adherence to romantic relationship norms, warranting further research across diverse populations.