Research
Current projects and my publications
Like many children, I dreamed of becoming a police officer. But instead of joining the police, I pursued a career in science. Through an educational journey across the German-speaking world (high school in Münster, university studies in Vienna, and PhD in Linz), I discovered and embraced my passion for scientific work. Now, I make science come to life.
Biography
From 2008 to 2016, I studied psychology (Diploma) in Vienna, focusing on differential psychology and psychological assessment, with a particular emphasis on statistics. After beginning my PhD in early 2018, I successfully completed it in March 2023 at Johannes Kepler University in Linz with a distinction (‘Sehr gut’) under the scientific supervision of Peter Jonason . My research interests span personality psychology and media psychology, with a strong emphasis on research methodology. My work covers a range of topics including biological foundations, relationship and sexual psychology, self-esteem, cancel culture, and research methods.
Editor
Early Career Editor in Studio Psychologia - Theorie et Praxis
Reviewer
Current Psychology
Current Research in Behavioral Sciences
Frontiers in Psychology
Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Journal of Sexual Health
Journal of Individual Differences
Personality and Individual Differences
PLOS One
Psychology of Popular Media
Live Dates
2024
13th November, Linz. Frauen und Männer im Netz der Medien.
2025
10th April, Berlin. Workshop: Die Dunkle Triade, Pathologie oder Pseudopathologie. Deutscher Psychotherapeuten Kongress
17th September, Vienna. Symposium: Dark Triad and Politics. ISSID.
Publications (peer-reviewed)
Freyth, L., Sigurdardóttir, I., & Jonason, P.K. (2024). Dark personalities, social motives, apps used: A life history approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 112940. In press.
Freyth, L. & Skocic, M. (2024). Individual differences: Number of sexual partners. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1808-1
Freyth, L. (2024). Infidelity: Individual differences. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1202-1
Freyth, L., Batinic, B., & Jonason, P.K. (2023). Social media use and personality: Beyond self-reports and trait-level assessments. Personality and Individual Differences, 202, 111960. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111960
Freyth, L., & Jonason, P. K. (2023). Overcoming agreeableness: Sociosexuality and the Dark Triad expanded and revisited. Personality and Individual Differences, 203, 112009. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.112009
Replikation: http://datepsychology.com/the-dark-triad-and-sociosexual-behavior-is-the-dark-triad-really-just-low-agreeableness/
Freyth, L. (2023). Personality/ Individual differences: Strategically relevant traits. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1814-1.
Freyth, L. (2023). Social Media, modern vs. ancestral environments. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_2328-1.
Freyth, L. (2023). The Dark Triad/Tetrad and dating apps. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_2485-1.
Freyth, L. (2023). It wasn’t me! Single and taken individuals having sex through dating apps. In press (ID: 1229733).
Freyth, L. & Jonason, P.K. (2023). Interpersonal, sexual, and search styles: Mating success on a modern human lek, Tinder. In Resubmission.
Freyth, L., March, E., Bonfá-Araujo, B., Aitken Schermer, J., & Jonason, P.K. (2024). The Dark Triad Traits in the light of life history theory. In APA Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. In Resubmission.
Freyth, L., Szymczak, P., Czerwiński, S.K., & Jonason, P.K. (2023). Self-presentations on dating applications (SODA): Photos, text, personality, and sex differences. In review.
Freyth, L., (2022). Dating app users after two years: An amplification of the Dark Triad traits. Studia Psychologia - Theoria et Praxis. https://doi.org/10.21697/sp.2022.22.1.02
Freyth, L., & Batinic, B. (2021). How bright and dark personality traits predict dating behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110316. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110316
Freyth, L., & Gittler, G. (2015). Validation of the endless loop test under power and work-limit condition. An empirical analysis. University of Vienna. [German: Der Endlosschleifentest unter Power und Work-Limit Bedingung. Eine empirische Analyse.]
Articles (non-peer reviewed)
Batinic, B., Freyth, L., & Grossi, N.R. (2020). Experiment, Other: Natural, Field. The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. Wiley. doi.org/10.1002/9781119011071.iemp0016
Forthcoming Articles*
Freyth, L., & Jonason, P.K. (2025). The triumvirate around freedom of speech, freedom of science, and cancel culture.
Freyth, L. & Hinterberger, J. (2025). Active and passive social media use among homosexual and heterosexual users. In review.
Freyth, L., & Skocic, M. (2025). Short term mating and sex differences. In Shackelford, T. (Editor) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer.
Szymczak, P. & Freyth, L. (2024). The role of the Dark Tetrad on Social media addiction from Instagram to LinkedIn.
Psychologie, Forschung, Führung