Research has suggested that more narcissistic people may be more sexually attractive, especially in short-term relationships. A series of recent studies have explored this idea and tried to get to the dynamics behind it.
In the first study, researchers simply manipulated scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; high, medium, low) and asked participants to rate the sexual attractiveness of a fake person. High scores on the NPI were rated as more attractive.
The second and third studies tried to get to the bottom of why narcissists might be more sexually attractive. In the second study, surveys were conducted on people who were in heterosexual relationships, along with a same-sex friend. The friends rated the participants’ attractiveness as a partner, their physical attractiveness, and their social boldness. Narcissists were found to be rated as more physically attractive and more socially bold, both of which contributed to their attractiveness as partners.
The third study was a bit more realistic. Male participants completed a narcissism scale and were asked to approach 25 women in public and ask for their contact information. This time, the measure of sexual attractiveness/partner attractiveness was the amount of contact information (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) that the participant was able to obtain from the strange women. Participants were also rated on physical attractiveness and social boldness. Again, narcissists were more sexually attractive, but this was due to physical attractiveness and social boldness.
So what’s going on? Over 20 years ago, in my research lab, we distinguished between “static” and “dynamic” attractiveness. Static attractiveness is the physical qualities of beauty that a person is born with. Dynamic attractiveness is the attractiveness that comes from grooming and dress, and especially from how you carry yourself and express yourself. We found, as the Beatles song goes, “There’s something about the way [she] moves that attracts me like no other lover.” In these studies, dynamic attractiveness and social boldness seemed to influence participants’ attractiveness—and narcissists seemed to have more of both (which makes sense since narcissists tend to pay more attention to grooming and are more confident in social situations).
Of course, it’s important to emphasize that narcissistic sexual attraction only seems to work in short-term relationships — not in long-term, committed relationships.
Here are references to the recent study and the older study on dynamic attraction
