Somewhat surprisingly, around a quarter of respondents said they began catfishing out of practicality, or because of some outside circumstance.
More than two-thirds of responses mentioned a desire to escape:.I was catfishing women because I am attracted to women but have never acted on it … I pretend to be a man as I would prefer to be in the male role of a heterosexual relationship than a female in a homosexual relationship. Some reported using false identities or personas to explore their sexuality or gender identity.It's a form of escapism, or a way of testing what life would be like if you were the same person but more physically attractive. If I try to send my real, unedited pictures to anyone that seems nice, they stop responding to me. I had lots of self-esteem problems … I actually consider myself ugly and unattractive … The only way I have had relationships has been online and with a false identity. Dissatisfaction with their physical appearance was also a common theme, represented in around one-third of responses:.Others claimed that a lonely childhood and ongoing struggles with social connection were contributing factors. I just wanted to be more popular and make friends that could talk to me, some part of the day. Loneliness was mentioned by 41 per cent of the respondents as the reason for their catfishing.The interviews focused mainly on their motivations and feelings about their catfishing behaviour. In the past year we have recruited 27 people from around the world who self-identified as catfish for online interviews. We have begun psychological research to investigate this question. ( ABC News: Nic MacBean) The personality traits of catfish scammersĪs smartphones and connected devices become ever more pervasive, the chances of falling victim to deception are increasing along with our screen time.īut what sort of person becomes a social catfish? Romance scam victims may never meet the person they send money to. It is currently in its seventh season of " online romances into the real world". Then there is the popular MTV reality docuseries, hosted by catfish victim Nev Schulman himself. In 2011, NBA star Chris Andersen became embroiled in a catfishing scandal that ended in prison time for the catfish.
Singer Casey Donovan, in her 2014 memoir, wrote about a six-year relationship that turned out to be fake - in her case, the catfish even lied about her gender. There have been several high-profile cases of catfishing reported in the media since then. Another married woman (who originally claimed to be her mother) has used pictures from a model's account to create the complicated, phoney relationship. In the 2010 documentary, Nev Schulman learns that a woman with whom he has developed an online relationship over nine months is actually fake. This commonly involves using stolen or edited photos, usually taken from an unwitting third party.Ĭatfish will use this information to create a more appealing version of themselves, then engage in continued one-on-one interactions with another person (or people) who are unaware of the deception.
If you have engaged with internet culture in recent years, you have probably come across the term "catfish", first coined in the 2010 documentary of the same name.Ī catfish is someone who uses false information to cultivate a persona online that does not represent their true identity.
0 kommentar(er)
