Are You More Likely to Meet a Narcissist on a Dating App?

The research says yes, but there are ways to date smarter

Carlyn Beccia
Fearless She Wrote
Published in
5 min readSep 11, 2020

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Are You More Likely to Meet a Narcissist on a Dating App?
Photo by Heitor Verdi from Pexels

Open up any dating app, and you can sail to a magical island with infinite possibilities for finding love. Those of you from my generation most likely remember the 1964 animated TV special, “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and his journey to “The Island of Misfit Toys.” Dating apps have the whole gang from the misfit toy collection.

There’s the Charlie-in-the-Box. Surprise! He’s a raging lunatic.

There’s a boat that can’t stay afloat and the airplane that can’t fly. That’s when you discover the person you are dating is burdened with credit card debt, lives with their mother (or ex), and lacks any ambition to improve their life.

There’s the dolly for Sue. Sure, she seems normal until you uproot her insecurities and lack of self-esteem. (Why does she cry so much?)

Joking aside, I have often wondered if dating apps are an accurate sample of the general singles population. Could it be that there are more jerks/rejected toys on dating apps than in real life?

Finally, a recent study from the journal Personality and Individual Differences can shed some light on this question. A study involving 555 participants found that there are…

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Carlyn Beccia
Fearless She Wrote

Award-winning author of 13 books. My latest: 10 AT 10: The Surprising Childhoods of 10 Remarkable People, MONSTROUS: The Lore, Gore, & Science. CarlynBeccia.com