Between 18 and 25% of Tinder users are already in a committed relationship while on the dating app.

A new study has found non-single users tend to score higher on the psychopathic scale.

Psychopaths were more likely to use Tinder for casual sex or an ego boost.

Dating apps might thus be a threat to romantic relationships, the authors concluded.



Psychopaths may have very different motivations for their romantic relationships than other people. They are driven by power and their ego, so a healthy relationship with someone who scores highly on the Hare test for psychopathy is unlikely.

In a new study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, scientists from Erasmus University Rotterdam wanted to find out the motivations for why people use dating apps like Tinder while already in relationships, and the results revealed something about how psychopaths behave.

A survey of nearly 1,500 Tinder users showed that non-single people who use the dating app tend to be more psychopathic.

More than 300 participants said they used the app despite being committed to someone else, and over half of those in a relationship said they had met someone through the app.

People in relationships reported higher scores for using Tinder because they were curious about it than single users, and lower scores for wanting to find love — probably because they were already partnered up.

Personality differences between single and non-single users also became clear.

"Partnered Tinder users reported lower scores on agreeableness and conscientiousness and higher scores on neuroticism and psychopathy compared to people in a committed relationship who did not use a dating app," lead author Elisabeth Timmermans told Psypost.

"Interestingly, partnered Tinder users with a higher score on psychopathy were also more likely to use Tinder for casual sex and reported a higher number of one night stands with other dating app users."

Overall, higher scores on psychopathy and Machiavellianism were significantly linked with a sexual motive and with using Tinder for an ego boost.

"Our findings leave me wondering whether dating apps might be a threat to romantic relationships," said Timmermans. "Of course our findings are too preliminary to make such conclusions, but they already suggest that some people (i.e., with certain personality traits) might be more susceptible to using dating apps for infidelity purposes than others."