I think it falls under the intermittent reward phenomenon - people want to think that the person they love can become the idealized version they have in their heads and they'll all live happily ever after, and when there is the occasional anecdotal story of someone who stuck it out for 27 years with their mono spouse who finally "saw the light" after decades of "work", that's enough to keep repeating the same old mistakes that almost everyone else has already learned before.
"But I heard from this one guy who dated this girl whose former lover's ex-metamour converted her husband! And I'm afraid of losing this person because I might never find anyone again, so I have to stick it out even though we're not happy and we both want different relationships because, some day, the poly version of the fairy tale ending might happen to me!"
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Date: 7/10/13 03:23 am (UTC)From:"But I heard from this one guy who dated this girl whose former lover's ex-metamour converted her husband! And I'm afraid of losing this person because I might never find anyone again, so I have to stick it out even though we're not happy and we both want different relationships because, some day, the poly version of the fairy tale ending might happen to me!"