Summary by Jennifer Pink & Nicola Gray
Research Study Highlights
- Individuals with higher scores on all the components of psychopathy measured by the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory reported trolling others (posting statements designed to provoke and upset others) and catfishing (pretending to be someone else in order to manipulate and trick others) and cyberstalking.
- Grandiose-manipulative traits and impulsive-lifestyle traits also predicted cyber-bullying and sadfishing (reporting emotional difficulties to elicit sympathy and attention).
- This appears to be the first study to examine whether psychopathic traits are related to sadfishing.
Background
Often interactions between people on social media can be positive, but social media platforms provide an environment for individuals to engage in psychologically harmful behaviours such as trolling and cyberstalking. Research is exploring how wider dark traits, including psychopathy, are related to such behaviours (for example, see our review of related research on this topic here: Dangerous dating in the digital age). However, much of the research uses “dark triad” or “dark tetrad” measures which represent psychopathy as a single construct. Yet psychopathy is multidimensional, involving callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity and manipulation of others.
This research by Athar (2025) aimed to add to the knowledge in this area by exploring which aspects of psychopathy hold particular relations with a range of harmful online behaviours. Athar (2025) also wanted to expand the range of online behaviours which have been researched to date, to include sadfishing, a novel concept which reflects sharing emotional problems via social media to garner attention and sympathy. Further, the study also explored the relationship between psychopathy and online career success, given the centrality that social media plays to many professionals including content creators.
How was the study done?
The study was completed with a sample of 490 university students aged between 18-46 based in Tabriz, Iran. Participants completed a series of questionnaires. To measure psychopathy, they completed the Persian adaptation of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory – Short Version (YPI-S; van Baardewijk et al., 2010). This measure has three subscales. One measures grandiose-manipulative (GM) traits, a second captures remorselessness and a lack of guilt associated with callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and a third measures impulsivity and risk-taking associated with an impulsive lifestyle (IL). Participants also completed questionnaires which aimed to index the following online behaviours:
- Cyberbullying
- Instagram trolling, Instagram catfishing and Instagram sadfishing
- Computer crime (including harassment, using other people’s passwords, accessing email and social media accounts of others)
- Intimate partner cyberstalking
- Instagram addiction, activity levels and “career success”. The latter reflecting financial gain as well as engagement/influence.
What did the researchers find?
Looking first at harmful behaviours towards others, Athar (2025) found that scores on all three psychopathy subscales predicted Instagram trolling and catfishing, as well as intimate partner cyberstalking. Only grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-lifestyle scores predicted cyber-bullying and sadfishing. Engaging in computer crime was only predicted by impulsive-lifestyle score.
Therefore, all three aspects of psychopathy appear to play a role in engaging in psychologically harmful behaviours on social media, yet less behaviour of this nature is associated with callous-unemotional traits than with the other aspects of psychopathy. Each component of psychopathy might have a particular influence on engaging in these behaviours. Athar outlines that trolling and catfishing may provide amusement at the distress of others, appealing to grandiose-manipulative traits. The emotional indifference associated with the callous-unemotional scale may limit any attempts to refrain from these behaviours, while, at the same time, such behaviours may fulfil aspects of recklessness and thrill-seeking associated with impulsivity traits.
In relation to online career success, grandiose-manipulative traits positively predicted Instagram engagement/influence. The grandiose-manipulative subscale alone predicted selfie sharing and heightened activity levels whereas impulsive-lifestyle predicted Instagram addiction. Along with callous-unemotional scores, impulsive-lifestyle also predicted daily usage of Instagram.
Athar suggests that selfie sharing might facilitate self-validation and status enhancement associated with grandiose traits, while impulsive traits may undercut attempts by individuals to manage or moderate their online engagement.
What are the implications?
Athar’s research highlights the importance of exploring the different dimensions of psychopathy when investigating contributors towards harmful online behaviours. This paper has shown that particular aspects of psychopathy are predictive of engaging in specific harmful kinds of behaviours when online. This knowledge could indicate particular aspects of psychopathy to focus on in interventions with individuals who engage in psychologically harmful online behaviours.
The study is also the first to explore the novel concept of sadfishing, illustrating the role that grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-lifestyle traits play in engaging in this attention- and sympathy-seeking online behaviour.
The study
Athar, M. E. (2025). Exploring the multidimensional nature of the psychopathy construct in social media context: Insights from Instagram. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 17, 100603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100603
Other references cited
van Baardewijk, Y., Andershed, H., Stegge, H., Nilsson, K. W., Scholte, E., & Vermeiren, R. (2010). Development and tests of short versions of the youth psychopathic traits inventory and the youth psychopathic traits inventory-child version. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 26(2), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000017
