Profile and Psychology of the Chess Cheater

I am an old guard chess player and have earned my chess ratings and my victories with only my brain and lots of hard study and play. Back then {before computers} Cheating was more in the form of distraction...I.E. purposeful bad breath, of not showering finger drumming ,yawning etc. I wonder about the profile of a computer chess cheater...how can they feel good about a false rating? Are most of cheaters young adolescents...just trying to look good for friends? are they players who have come to realize they will never get much higher of a rating, and just seeing thier rating on the screen ...makes them happy? I should look forward for comments on this matter as the subject of chess cheating dominates the computer chess world. :]

It depends on the person. Lets say a person was very bad at chess but wanted to higher self-esteem of him/her self. Or it was getting cheated a lot and wanted revenge. These are a couple scenarios.

Cheaters are seduced by the dark side of the force. Getting a high rating even though it is not reflective of their true ability poses such a quick and easy path. A true Jedi know that once you start down this dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

Only through patience, training, and learning from mistakes will a true chess Jedi warrior emerge, able to use the force as his ally.

It has nothing to do with rating. It's the same reason why people cheat at any other computer game. They get more satisfaction from dominating other people than they would by playing legitimately. Cheating gives them power over other people.