Online Dating Study Shows That Strereotypes Are Often There For A Reason
from the shocking dept
If someone told you that they were going to conduct a study on what types of profile would make it so you were more likely to have people contact you on a dating site, you could probably guess what the results would say. And, you know what? You’d be absolutely right. From the results of just such a study, it appears that certain stereotypes may be quite accurate when looked at in the aggregate. Guys contact women who post pictures, showing that looks are important. Women contact guys who earn more than they do. Men don’t like to contact women who earn more than they do. Men who say they want a long-term relationship are more likely to be contacted than men who admit they’re just looking for a “casual relationship.” And, oh yeah, the evidence suggests that everyone on these sites believes they’re above average. It’s not quite clear what this proves, other than that the obvious still stands. Of course, aggregate data on things like a dating site may mean little to nothing to each individual person who, after all, really only needs to find the right person, rather than the most people (though, of course, those who are interested in “casual relationships” may disagree — but people aren’t contacting them anyway, apparently).
