Psychology In The News | You Give Me The Ick!

New research by Collisson et al (2025) examines ‘the ick’ - defined as a sudden feeling of disgust toward a romantic partner triggered by trivial behaviours. The study investigated who experiences ‘the ick’ and why some people are more susceptible than others.

The researchers first analysed TikTok videos tagged #theick to identify common triggers, including public embarrassment, annoying speech patterns, social media obsession, and physical appearance issues. They then surveyed 125 single adults aged 24-72, measuring their familiarity with the term, personal experiences, likely triggers, disgust sensitivity, perfectionist expectations, and narcissistic traits.

About half the participants knew the term ‘the ick’ before the study, while 64% recognised the experience once defined. Participants reported an average of ten ‘ick’ experiences throughout their dating history, with 42% stopping dating after experiencing it and 26% ending relationships immediately.

The researchers discovered gender differences both in people’s awareness of what the ick was, as well as how frequently they had experienced it. Women were more familiar with the concept (63% vs 39% of men) and experienced it more frequently (75% vs 57%). Personality traits also influenced susceptibility. Higher disgust sensitivity correlated with stronger ick reactions, though not increased frequency. Grandiose narcissism (a personality trait which involves an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others) and perfectionist partner standards were also associated with more intense ick responses.

Among women, those with higher levels of perfectionism and narcissistic traits were more likely to experience the ick when noticing physical appearance issues (e.g. their partners butt crack being visible when they bent over) or when their date caused public embarrassment. Men with higher disgust sensitivity, on the other hand, were more likely to experience it based on the way someone spoke or by ‘trendy’ behaviours (e.g. ‘too much make up and fake tan’) where their partner was trying too hard to fit in.

The study raises questions about whether the ick serves a protective function or simply promotes unnecessary pickiness in dating. While some icks signal legitimate concerns (for example, some women in the study said that misogyny would give them the ick), many are trivial and unlikely to affect relationship success.

References:

Collisson, B., Saunders, E., & Yin, C. (2025). The ick: Disgust sensitivity, narcissism, and perfectionism in mate choice thresholds. Personality and Individual Differences, 238, 113086–113086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid... (accessed 20.3.25)

New study nails down “the ick” https://www.bps.org.uk/researc... (accessed 20.3.25)

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS!

1. Which personality traits were more likely to lead to participants experiencing the ‘ick’ response?
2. To gather their sample, researchers used Amazon's Mechanical Turk, which pays participants to complete surveys online. What is a potential problem with this?
3. What correlational relationships were identified, and how might the researchers establish causality in future research?
4. Outline the ethical considerations involved in research about romantic rejection.

Challenge: What gives people the ick?

One of the big challenges in an area of emerging research such as this is operationalising what is meant by the ‘ick’. This study was conducted in the USA, but the experience of the ‘ick’ may differ according to culture. Design a study to investigate how the experience of the ‘ick’ might differ in UK participants.