What’s the psychology behind why women fall for the Bad Guys?

We have all had conversations with our girlfriends about falling for the bad guys, time after time.

All women want to try to change the bad boy into someone worthy of a relationship. We discuss how we knew they were the wrong man but pursued them anyway.

We will always realize by the time it’s too late and we have fallen too deep and yet ask ourselves “what was I thinking?

Women can actually blame their brain for this type of attraction. According to a study of 2,000 female volunteers that was undertaken by a group of psychologists Carter, Campbell, and Muncer, there are a set of qualities found in these type of men that are desirable to us.

Known as The Dark Triad, these three qualities Machiavellian-ism, psychopathy, and narcissism, are seen by women to be attractive to a man.

These kinds of qualities entice women to further explore despite knowing that we shouldn’t. Ever thought about how the mean, unpleasant girls at school were the most popular, and vampires are always extremely attractive.

Features of these types of qualities

Narcissistic men are very good at building up an attractive image of themselves and their life that we can’t quite resist. Machiavellianian men are superb at the art of flirting.

This type of man knows that seduction cannot take place if there is not a build-up of innuendo and unconcealed intent. This type of seduction stems from the reproductive goals of men and women (women looking to find a suitable mate and a man looking to mate with whatever he can).

Psychopathic men bring quality to the dating table that women do find irresistible and that quality is fearlessness. When a woman rejects a psychopath, they don’t actually care all that much.

So they can pursue women with no regard if they are rejected or not. This gives off an element of arrogance, which is very attractive to many women.

The results of the study.

During the study, women were shown a range of men’s faces in pairs, these pictures were computer-simulated pictures. One of the faces had more Dark Triad qualities than the other.

Dishonest features were linked with Machiavellianism, masculine was linked to narcissism and aggressive was linked to psychopathic tendencies.



Women often find themselves thinking good looks and a riveting personality goes hand in hand with charm and decency. This, as many of us know, does not actually turn out to be true.

We really shouldn’t assume because a man is attractive, he, therefore, will be a good man. This assumption is known as the halo effect when we assume that because someone is physically attractive to look at, they will automatically be kind, intelligent and warm.

However all is not lost, despite us being attracted to these types of men, we also soon realize our error. Relationships are part of a learning curve, so even if we make these mistakes, there are simply bumps in the road towards a healthy relationship.

Have you ever felt an attraction for bad guys? Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Alce

    I’m sorry, but I’ve literally never seen anyone unironically behave like this outside of fiction. Maybe there is an enormous cultural gulf between us?? Of course I’ve seen girls and women go for terrible boys and men, but only because the love-bombing was so persuasive and the girls/women were so emotionally vulnerable at that stage of their lives. Usually, those terrible boys/men were almost as ugly on the outside as the inside, but you can’t convince a girl that her goody-two-shoes best-friend-turned-lover is a monster on every level, even after she sees his true colors for herself. Even just in the physical attraction department, I don’t know anyone who prefers “dishonest, masculine, aggressive” faces except equally creepy guys who identify with them. In fact, seeing others in abusive relationships made me MORE determined never to compromise in the looks department. I’ve literally never met an attractive guy who was caught being unkind to anyone. Or to put it another way, I don’t think Loki is attractive because he’s Loki, I think he’s attractive because he’s Tom Hiddleston. I guess I have to admit that vampire characters are occasionally a bit more attractive than the actors who portray them, but only because I think literally everyone looks better in Tim Burton makeup. (I’m obviously not going to choose a partner on the basis of their willingness to apply a bucket of paint to their faces every morning, anyway.)

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