A short spoken excerpt from a YouTube video by Dr. Arthur Brooks in which the speaker asks why people are unfaithful to their spouses and argues that evolutionary/natural impulses ("Mother Nature") drive behavior that often contradicts personal values and happiness. The speaker frames infidelity as the result of impulses that do not prioritize individual well-being and mentions discussing the topic in his classes.
People often ask, you know, why are people unfaithful to their spouses? That's a complicated question. Boy, oh, boy, do I talk about that a lot in my classes about why people are unfaithful to each other. But marital infidelity has everything to do with the impulses that people have from Mother Nature that go completely contrary to their own happiness. Nobody ever says, you know, sure, I'm glad I got caught having that affair. Well, it's mostly the caught part, I guess. But you get my point that nobody says, you know, I'm sure. Sure is great that I did something that actually doesn't even live up to my own values. Why did I do that? People question, why did I do that? Because Mother Nature doesn't care if you're happy is the bottom line.
