What kinds of secrets does the average person keep? In a new paper, Columbia University researchers Michael L. Slepian and colleagues carried out a survey of secrets. Slepian et al. developed a 'Common Secrets Questionnaire' (CSQ) and gave it to 600 participants recruited anonymously online. Participants were asked whether they'd ever had various secrets, at any point in their lives. The results are a monument to all our sins:
It turns out that extra-relational thoughts - meaning "thoughts about having relations with another person while already in a relationship" - top the list of secrets. One third of people report having such thoughts and never telling anyone. Another 20% say that they kept such thoughts a secret from some people. Other leading secrets included "sexual behavior" and "romantic desire". One third of participants reported having had a secret of "no sex", meaning that at some point in their lives they ...
