According to the findings of a new study, the willingness of a person to engage in online dating relationships is linked to their tendency to keep private information about themselves hidden. Personal Relationships is the journal where the study was published.

According to study author Madeleine T. D’Agata, a scientist at Defence Research and Development Canada, “I’m fascinated by the personality and individual differences associated with concealing versus disclosing private information,” she said.

Specifically, this study looked at which people are more likely to share their personal information online in a more anonymous setting. We wanted to learn more about the ways in which future efforts can better promote community resilience against online deception, because disclosure can put individuals at greater risk of being exploited online.”

There were 432 participants in total in two studies by D’Agata and her colleagues.

To begin, the researchers devised a questionnaire to gauge people’s willingness to engage in romantic relationships with complete strangers they’ve never met before. Measured participants’ agreement with statements like “I can very easily feel a closeness to people I only met online” and “I find it more enjoyable to talk to people I don’t know well online rather than in person”

Afterwards, D’Agata and her colleagues tested how the measure was related to people’s actual willingness to share personal information. During the experiment, participants wrote about three topics: an embarrassing experience, a lie they had told, and an interesting fact about themselves that even their closest friends didn’t know. When asked how embarrassed they were, they admitted to lying about the gravity of their situation and the sensitivity of their disclosure.

Participants who were more open to forming online relationships were more likely to tell more serious lies. Surprisingly, however, these participants were more likely to agree with statements like “I’ve kept a big secret from everyone,” as well as “My secrets are too embarrassing to share with anyone.”

Some people are more likely to share private information online than others, according to a study. D’Agata explained to PsyPost that people who tend to keep private information hidden in their daily lives were more likely to reveal it in the study.

However, why did participants who had a greater tendency to keep their personal information private find it easier than others to meet new people on the internet? As the researchers explained, “we suspect that this increased willingness to form online relationships is related to the role that self-concealment might play in impression management during online interactions.”” As a way to control their online image, those who conceal negative information about themselves in their daily interactions may also do so in online contexts, thus increasing their ability to form relationships online.”

According to the findings, those with higher levels of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism in their personalities were more likely to tell lies that were more serious in nature. The more manipulative and cynical people were, the more likely they were to divulge private information, as D’Agata noted in her study.

“Participants completed a hypothetical self-disclosure task in our study, however,” she continued. ” It would be interesting to see if similar findings emerge if the disclosure is real, including the potential for real-life consequences,”