Science Says You'll Get More Dates If You Possess This One Trait

Think about your dream guy.

And I'm not talking about what he looks like. He could be blond, brunette, short, tall, brown-eyed or green-eyed... I don't care. But what's his essence like?

Is he the kind of guy who is a gift to God's green earth and knows it, or is he the kind of guy who wears a T-shirt to the beach? I don't know about you, but I'm going for the guy who knows what a hot commodity he is. And it turns out I'm not the only one.

A new study of speed dating found that people find narcissists the most attractive and datable.

The study, led by Emanuel Jauk of the University of Graz in Austria, found their daters using a combination of social media and the university website. 90 people participated in three speed dating events culminating in a total of 691 dates.

The participants were asked to complete online surveys that measured their sexual orientation, their Big Five personality traits and -- finally, the good stuff -- whether they had any of the "dark triad" traits.

If you're like me and have absolutely no idea what in the world "dark triad traits" are, here are the three options laid out for you: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate people), psychopathy (inability to connect with other people's feelings) and narcissism (obsession with yourself).

Next, they were asked to rate the physical attractiveness of the other participants simply based on looking at photos of them.

Then came the dates themselves and after each three-minute hang, the participants rated them on how much they wanted to be friends with that person and how much they'd like to pursue a short-term relationship -- like a one night stand, friends with benefits or a booty call, dutifully described by authors as “arranging meetings purely for sex on an ad hoc basis” -- or a long-term relationship.

Then they were asked if they'd like to see that person again, which the authors described as an “actual mate.”

So how did narcissism play into all of this?!

Turns out narcissism correlated with the possibilities for friendship, short-term flings and long-term relationships for women. For men, narcissism was the most strongly associated with short-term and long-term relationships.

Another interesting finding from the study? Well, in perhaps the least shocking news of all time, being hot helps you score dates. Researchers found that personality effects become a lot "less pronounced" when physical attractiveness was accounted for.

But it's also important to note that earlier findings suggest that narcissistic people tend to invest more in their appearances. AKA they're hotter. AKA we're right back at square one: Narcissists are attractive.

Citations: Narcissists Get More Dates (New York Magazine), How Alluring Are Dark Personalities? The Dark Triad and Attractiveness in Speed Dating (European Journal of Personality), Personality Judgments Based on Physical Appearance (SAGE Journals)