A costly date for Spitzer, but not so surprising, scientists say

Why would someone as rich and powerful as Eliot Spitzer put his family, his job and his promising future on the line for an alleged $4,000 date with a prostitute?

Is this pathological or inherent in human nature?

Scientists says it's more likely to be the latter. They attribute this kind of behavior to natural promiscuity combined with opportunity - along with a risk-taking personality common to men like Bill Clinton and John F Kennedy. It's what makes them seek office and what makes us want to vote for them.

Psychologist Christopher Ryan, author of "Sex in Prehistory," says the desire for sex with more than one person has always been there - for leaders and followers alike. "The desire is not a function of status or power - it's a question of availability."

What's relatively new to the human race, he said, is the ability to exercise power and the connection between power and sex.

That's because, for most of human existence, there was only so far a man could coerce others when food was essentially free and hard to hoard. And until relatively recently, sex with multiple partners was the norm. "It would have been very unusual 100,000 years ago for a person to have one sexual partner for 30 years," said Ryan in an interview from Barcelona.

We don't know this for sure, because prehistoric sexual behavior doesn't fossilize, but there's much we can infer from studying how people in foraging cultures live today, he said. Such cultures tend to be relatively egalitarian and promiscuous, at least by American standards, he said. But prostitution is rare, as he believes it was for most of our past.

"There would be no need for prostitutes because there would be very few sexually frustrated men," he said.

So in other words, if Spitzer had been born in 40,000 B.C., he would never have gotten into this fix.

While Ryan argues that men and women are both naturally promiscuous and power simply gives men the opportunity to follow that nature, psychiatrist Gabriela Cort takes a more open view of the human male. Alpha males - leaders - are often indeed full of pent-up sexual energy, but they don't always use it to get in trouble, said Cort, author of the upcoming book, "Leading Under Pressure."