Why Do People Catfish?

What do we know about the psychology of catfishing? In this video, I describe a new line of research we recently started on people who catfish.

00:00 Start
00:31 What is catfishing?
01:50 A personal example
03:19 Our research
06:19 Tragic catfishing
07:07 Final thoughts
#catfishing #ghosting #socialcatfish

✨ABOUT ME:
I received my Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. I joined the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia in 2007, where my research and teaching are focused on social neuroscience.

✨ WHERE TO FOLLOW ME:
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[Just-A-Girl-]

I was catfished. I know they did it for attention. I dated him for a long time and it broke ny heart. All the mind games and lies. Sad thing is i will never know he is. Never asked me for money or anything. He just wanted me to love and adore him without ever meeting. It is hurtful to the person being lied to especially when feelings are involved.

[leilaelmi_stuart]

I believe most of the people who have been catfished share the satisfying feeling of "somebody needs me, and I am "wanted". I am the hero".

[towarzyszmarcin]

ouch. It never came to my mind, that catfishes actually could be just normal people who are just afraid, that their boring lives would not interest anyone. Thats a pretty sad reality.

[dbo]

I’ve been catfished before and the feeling of betrayal was harder to get over than trying to trust that person again. In my case, I believe that they did it for personal gain or social credit, which seemed to be more sinister to me. It takes a strong person to go through that kind of thing. Also, my catfish liked to love bomb me which created this inherent power difference. It is such a shame that when I confronted them, that they continued to want to try love bombing me again. It’s so strange that no more research is out there on this type of behavior because I wish I would know more and understand from their perspective.

[Kyle-vpdk]

Super interesting, thank you for sharing. WIll definitely subscribe!

[smartfun]

I’ve been catfished by a woman who went to great lengths to make her whole profile/story credible. She edited the pictures she stole from the original profile so that reverse image search by Google wouldn’t reveal the source. She also edited the video stories adding her own voice to them. As a result, this cat fisher seemed legit, her photos and stories looked authentic and original, she had other fake profiles tagging her in their own stories and we had very long phone conversations. Every time I wanted to have FaceTime video call, she always had an excuse to avoid it but I thought it was ok since 99.9% of cat fishers do not have videos with with the same voice heard in voice clips and phone conversations. Now here’s the funny thing: I am not resentful towards her or whatsoever because she made me feel on top of the world. She encouraged me to work out, to believe in myself, and to trust that not only will I recover all I’d lost in my life but that I will rise above it. She said that I should write a book about my life which “is awesome” (in her own words), and when I replied “thanks for the advice but I don’t think I am that special to write a book about my life” she said “it’s ok because even if you wrote that book, it’d be incomplete because your life has not started yet. The best is yet to come!”.

It turns out I was going through depression and even though her identity is a lie, I firmly believe that she helped me go through it. I feel extremely happy now.

At this moment I don’t want to confront her nor report her profile. We had a lot of fun talking endlessly on the phone, talking about movies and books, listening to each other’s playlists on Spotify and talking about life in general.

The other funny thing is that when I saw the original profile; the model she used to fake her identity, I realized that even though she is absolutely gorgeous, I would still never fall in love with her because well… it’s just another person inside! The spell has been forever broken once for all!

[elit]

I think I am going through this now . I found your video, thank you for the important info. I don't want to get hurt . The other person already knows I have doubts about them . I can only hope and pray that if is relationship is not real, may it end. I will walk away and lean from this life experience. How sad that this world is full of imposters and people who want to play with other peoples feelings. May God give further knowledge over this subject. Great vedio! Thanks so much !

[searchbug]

Nowadays, most of them wants their victims to hand over cash or personal details that can be used to access their financial accounts. In cases where victims are coaxed into sharing private photos, they can be blackmailed into paying up. But it's very interesting watching your video tackling the possible reasons why they do catfish. This video is an eye opener to a catfish and their victims hoping that they would do a reflection and correct their doings. Thank you so much!

[jantelopez]

you should ask catfishers about their parents behaviour towards them.. are they overcontrolling? are they acknowledged and shown affection?

[WhitneyDahlin]

I would LOVE a follow up video about the stalker catfish. I really want to know what the mindset behind that is

[ebonyalexis]

This needs more views ! I feel like commentary YouTube would be interested in collaborating with you about the results. Lmk if you want to hear my ideas 😊

[MissSeaSea]

I’m desperate to find the identity of someone who has been cereal stocking/catfishing me for many many years. It’s absolutely my broken me and my life inside and out. I second guess everything and everyone. I’m terrified of whom and why and what they get out of it and what their full and final intentions are. How I can avoid this ever happening again, how to figure put who they are and take legal actions to protect myself from every being this SICK PERSON’S victim again. Every time I’m weaker and weaker and clear to just completely giving up. They have all of the advantage, always. I have none. Nothing. And my life OSS so empty and alone, I’m so stupid. They win every time

[Jack-erwi]

If you need another participant, please let me know. I’d like to know more about myself in this area…

[glorymarieministries]

Please know that now they are able to fake video calls with artificial Intelligence

[Toby_OfficialTV]

I know this video been out for long time but I have a question! Someone is Catfishing As Me What should I do for it? & have you ever get catfish as you?❤

[filmonmeshesha]

Hi, I want to know how do I find out about catfish.

[JCcanU]

it is March 2024, I been talking to a lady 100 miles away she has give me her address I could go by her house . But im thinking im getting catfish, she won't face time I have only seen her photos just her face shoulders up. when I ask for a full photo she will say she don't have one or her phone can't do that . Talks 16 hours a day on some days either her or I can get anything done . Im ok with that we are both retired . she is telling me she wants to take her time getting to know me, If I did go by her house I feel im stalking her or not trusting her . is that not bad that I think like this? but I hate to find out i been being played for a fool . I have been Catfish before but it was in 2004, I cought on easy, this one is either real or very good at the games being played .

[Studiofaeltube]

I met a loner like me. She was kind
And nice, we bonded really profoundly, she had a troubled youth, and was troubled by rejection. We both gave each other love and affection. She never asked money from me, was more concerned w friendship, but we never met. 10 years later she accidentally put her camera during a voice chat, she panicked and disappeared. She wasn’t the person she said she was. She ghosted me, i blocked her and now i suffer the loss of a non existent person.

[deanasherrick]

I've been catfished multiple times. Its getting pretty easy to spot them coming now. I guess I just have one of those faces?

[JoleneCatanne]

Yeah....the guy I was talking to uploaded pics of himself from 4 and 5 years back. Felt weird to me. Everyone has a phone these days. He was overly sweet and a super writer. Everything I described about myself, he claimed the same for himself. At first it was a delight. But, after the 6th identical copy cat claim from Him, I realized...hold up! He had the same thing to say about himself that I stated about me. By day 3, I realized he still didnt upload any recent pics of himself, as I had requested. I demand respect. So I pushed. So...he finally did. He was dirty looking, an additional 60 lbs heavier, and had scars on his face. Swollen red eyes. Like WOW! I GOT MAD. See...if I hadn't pushed for a REAL photo....i would have went on to develope mental and quite possibly some emotional connections with a 'figment of my own imagination'. The meet up would have been particularly horrific for me. Ending with ME looking like the manipulative arse, when it's him that is manipulative, a liar and selfish. Unbelievable!!!