"Imagine the following situation: Molly and Peter have been dating for five years and are in a committed and happy relationship. One day, Peter accidentally overhears Molly talking to a friend about having a massive crush on the tennis coach who trained with her during a recent resort vacation to Greece. Clearly, Molly is feeling romantic attraction towards the tennis coach, but it is also clear that she does not make any actual attempts at flying back to Greece to meet him again."
"In the study with the title "Do Crushes Pose a Problem for Exclusive Relationships? Trajectories of Attraction Intensity to Extradyadic Others and Links to Primary Relationship Commitment and Satisfaction", the research team analyzed data from 172 volunteers who reported having a crush on someone else while being in a committed long-term relationship. The volunteers filled out various questionnaires about their background, about how strong the crush was on a person who was not their partner, and about the quality of the relationship with their partner."
Up to 70% of people in committed exclusive long-term relationships develop a crush on a third person at some point. Data from 172 volunteers who reported crushes while in committed long-term relationships were analyzed across multiple assessments. Participants reported crush intensity, background information, and primary relationship quality via questionnaires. Most crushes were transient or low in intensity and had little effect on relationship satisfaction or commitment. When primary relationships were already low in satisfaction, presence or persistence of a crush tended to further decrease commitment and satisfaction, with persistent high-intensity attractions posing greater risk.
Read at Psychology Today
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