A cheating spouse is universally looked at as a despicable creature, a person who betrays the trust reposed on them by their spouse, and as someone unworthy of their spouse’s genuine love. This perception may befit some people. But there are quite a few people who fall a prey to the psychological maneuvers of the predators. A dignified, innocent and well meaning person can often be swayed by working on his or her emotions. The purpose of this article is not to give a clean chit to the cheating spouses or to advise their spouses to forgive their infidelity but to sound a note of warning that a good person can become vulnerable to be lured into extra marital relationships.

I recently watched a soap opera in which a proud young girl spurns the overtures of an honest young man courting her love and makes no secret of her contempt for him but falls an easy prey to the machinations of a habitual flirt. Well, soap operas can sometimes reflect reality! There are people out to win over members of the other sex who attract them. That their object of love is married to another person is not a factor that will restrain them. They only have to adopt some special tactics in such cases!

John has an eye for Helen who is married to Pete. He knows that it is not easy to lure Helen. He first studies the type of woman Helen is. If she is the easygoing type, there will be no problem. But if she is morally upright, then he will devise ways to trap her. One quick strategy that works with any person is making the other person believe that the predator has a lot of things common with the prospective victim. Nothing is more satisfying to our ego than the feeling that there is another person in this world sharing our views, likes and interests. Once John succeeds in creating this impression in Helen’s mind, half the battle is already won. In most of the cases, the victim will fall into the predator’s hand with no further effort from the predator.

The second step which could easily clinch the deal is to feed the victim with a little praise. There is hardly anyone immune to praise. Ironically, those who believe that they can’t be swayed by flattery are even more vulnerable to this age-old trick and become victims of cheating.

In most of the cases, a good person can become a cheating spouse without even realizing what he or she is doing.