Be yourself (But better): Self‑Presentation and Self‑Perception in Online Dating

Online dating applications have become an important context in which romantic interaction takes place, carrying implications for how individuals perceive and present themselves. This study examines how self-perception and profile-based self-presentation are experienced and negotiated among emerging adults (aged 18–25). Drawing on theories of impression management, self-perception, and self-evaluation, the study adopts a qualitative design based on 14 semi-structured interviews with participants from diverse national backgrounds, combined with a qualitative content analysis of their dating profiles. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns across participants’ experiences. Findings conceptualise dating apps as psychologically salient environments in which self-perception, self presentation, and evaluation function together. Participants report tensions related to authenticity, self-concept clarity, identity, romantic interactions, and sensitivity to perceived norms of desirability. Situated within the developmental context of emerging adulthood, these processes show how dating applications function as spaces where the self is actively shaped and re-negotiated through structured, heavily mediated, romantic interaction.