The projection of positive traits

It takes us a while to see a person that we are attracted to for who they may be. This kind of projection is easy to maintain but only up until the event when we become the victim of another's callousness.

Meanwhile, there are people who have this innate desire to be the one to reform the other person, morally, and act as their moral savior. Therefore, badness in this case is in itself not the one that is attractive but the opportunity it presents.

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Hybristophilia

This is also known as the Bonnie and Clyde syndrome where certain people are attracted to those who have committed some sort of outrage.

But, having this technically means that badness in men is attractive to women.

550 reads

Negging

Negging means making snide remarks to other people and they always give out negative feedback, more so in men to women.

The mechanism as to how negging works has very little to do with the putative attractiveness of being rude or mean. Neggers is often seen as valuable because they appear i...

407 reads

Badness and desirable qualities

Badness is often correlated with other desirable qualities like self-confidence and independence, but if we see badness through this perspective it's like telling ourselves that we prefer grueling flights because we can endure a ten-hour plane ride but not an hour for a taxi.

465 reads

Extreme altruists are not unattractive due to moral goodness

There are many people who have negative reactions towards extreme altruists - these are the people who donate organs to strangers and those who otherwise help others at a very significant cost to themselves.

However, we find extreme altruists unattractive because we feel like we may not be...

337 reads

"The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character."

GEORGE ELIOT

367 reads

The aesthetic appeal of moral wickedness

The moral and aesthetic values of people can be pulled in opposite directions. Serial killers like Richard Ramirez and Ted Bundy were infamous but had lots of female fans that sent them letters and attended their court hearings.

However, they were already perceived as attractive despite th...

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