What you do on your dating site goes right to science
Regular readers know that I comb the NY Times for tidbits. This article in the Style section last month was a lot more than a tidbit. In fact, there were so many juicy bits that I have pulled some out for your edification:
The major dating sites had more than 593 million visits in the United States last month
Of the romantic partnerships formed in the United States between 2007 and 2009, 21 percent of heterosexual couples and 61 percent of same-sex couples met online
81 percent of people misrepresent their height, weight or age in their profiles
People tend to tell small lies because, since they may eventually meet in person.
People were most honest about their age, probably because they can claim ignorance about weight and height. A different study found that women’s profile photographs were on average a year and a half old. Men’s were on average six months old.
Liars tend to use fewer first-person pronouns. Liars use more negative words like “not” and “never,” yet another way of putting up a buffer. Liars use fewer negative emotion words like “sad” and “upset,” and they write shorter online personal essays. (It’s easier not to get caught if you say less.)
Same dates same: Internet dating shows a very high proportion of same-ethnicity dating—white more than black, women more than men, and old more than young prefer a same-race partner.
Women prefer men who are slightly overweight, while men prefer women who are slightly underweight and who do not tower over them. Women have a stronger preference than men do for income over physical attributes.
Unwillingness to state political affiliations—“People were much more likely to say ‘I’m fat’ than ‘I’m a conservative.’ ”
