Two weeks ago I wrote a post discussing some interesting findings regarding online dating. These findings were from a fascinating study of online dating performed by three researchers lead by Dan Ariely of MIT. This post continues my discussion of this study’s findings. The researchers were able to get access to Match.com’s computer records for their San Diego and Boston markets, and could tell exactly which profiles other people found interesting, sent emails to, talked with, met for a date, etc. The idea is that these preferences revealed by people’s actions more accurately showed their true preferences than a survey or poll would.
Many of their conclusions were just what you would expect. For example, men generally try to avoid women who are older or taller than they are, and women “have a particularly strong aversion to shorter men.” p. 27. Also, women place almost twice as much weight on income as men.
Also, men have a distaste for women who are more educated than they are, while women try to avoid men who are less educated than they are. p. 27. If this trend persists it may make it more difficult to find matches. Women now make up considerably more than 50% of college admissions.
One intriguing part of the study is speculation that many of the similarities between couples in such areas as education, religion, and income could be attributable to the fact that the social institutions that bring people together usually group people according to these attributes. It is therefore easier for people to meet and become couples if they match in these areas.
Online dating, in contrast, lets people search for another person who has exactly the sort of characteristics they want. If you want a medium-tall, slender, brunette who makes at least $50,000/year and attends Catholic Church on a weekly basis, you can easily search for one.
One of their conclusions is one that you would guess: [O]ur fate in love and marriage seems to be driven by factors such as looks, height, weight, and income, that are hard or impossible to change … (and) factors such as personality traits apparently only allow us to partly make up for deficiencies in good looks or wealth.” pp. 30-31.
So, as I discussed in a previous post regarding the findings of this study, if you want to be successful at online dating, first email a lot of other people, and then, if you’re a man, be very good-looking, tall, beefy, straight-haired, college-educated, work in a favored occupation, and make a lot of money. If you’re a woman, be good-looking, slender, and not too tall.
The full text of their report is here:
http://designogselvfremstillelse.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dating1.pdf
