It’s quite a common occurrence and can often be used to test the waters before choosing to enter a relationship with one of your potential partners but where is the boundary drawn?
Relationships on Female First
Dr Massimo Stocchi of www.harleystreetpsychology.com believes there are two ways you can go about dating multiple people.
He says, “One is more open and reflective whereby the individuals involved express that they are dating more than once person and if they feel they want to take things further they will inform all parties involved and dissolve the other potential relationship.
“Whereas the other stance is more secretive and focused on not wanting to hurt anyone involved, so they will have these dates and choose the best man suitable for them.”
Both have their advantages and disadvantages but it appears that the public believe there is no excuse for dating two people at once.
A FemaleFirst poll revealed that a massive 67 per cent of people saw dating more than one person as unacceptable.
Dr Stocchi suggests this may be because of the hurt it can cause. He says “It is important to remind oneself that all parties will at one point or another get hurt within a relationship, this is the nature of all relationships and it would be very naïve to think otherwise, so therefore one’s main priority at the onset of dating is finding someone they feel is suitable for them.”
Our poll revealed that 17 per cent of people would say that it’s occasionally acceptable to date two people at once, in order to find what it is that you’re looking for, something that Dr Stocchi deems as incredibly important.
Testing the field in terms of a potential partner is important, you don’t want to realise later on into the relationship that you rushed into something without being completely sure and that’s why 16 per cent of our readers found dating multiple people to be acceptable.
Dr Stocchi gives an interesting analogy, he says, “Try to apply the analogy by responding to this question: which is your favourite type of food? In order for you to come to an adequate conclusion to the question you would need to taste a variety of cuisines—the same goes for dating.
“Before you can answer whether a person is the right one for 'me' you should want to have a taste tester of all the potential options out there.”
When it comes to which method you should use when dating more than one person, honesty seems to be the best policy.
Dr Stocchi says, “In providing you failsafe advice, I would suggest opting for being transparent with the knowledge that you are dating others so that there is no misconception which may add to the potential of hurting another.”
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