NY TIMES — Apr 10 — Scientists can now watch mating rituals in real time (thanks to online dating). They've analyzed the courtship choices of more than 10,000 speed-daters. Researchers found that women are pickier than men. Men concentrate mainly on looks and will ask out a lot of women as long as they're above a certain threshold of attractiveness. Women focus on fewer prospects and are less willing to date someone of another race When using online services women pay more attention than men do to a potential partner's education, profession and income. They prefer taller men, but they're willing to relax their standards. A study of 20,000 online daters by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of MIT, found that a 5'8" man was just as successful in getting dates as a 6-footer if he made more money – precisely $146k a year more. For a 5'2" man, the number was $277k. [see nytimes.com/tierneylab.] "When you have all these criteria to consider, and so many people to choose from, you start striving for perfection," Dr. Ariely says. "You don't want to settle." It's the same problem afflicting New Yorkers: with so many prospects in the big city, they refuse to stop searching. Online daters typically end up going out with fewer than 1 percent of the people whose profiles they study online. The average speed-dating participant makes a match with at least 1 in 10 of the people they meet. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
Mark Brooks: Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com or call me at 212-444-1636 if you'd like to open your site up to academics for this kind of research.
“A study of 20,000 online daters by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of MIT, found that ……..”
See that study was done BEFORE October 2004
“What Makes You Click? — Mate Preferences and Matching Outcomes in Online Dating”
The old October 2004 version http://econ.ucsc.edu/faculty/nuclear/econ180/hotnews/onlinedating.pdf
The fresh April 2006 version
http://home.uchicago.edu/~hortacsu/onlinedating.pdf
Fortunately we know now that “speed dating” is all about short_term_mating and not for a long_term_romantic_relationship!
See:
“STATED VERSUS REVEALED MATE PREFERENCES” Working Paper
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/PLEEP/pdfs/Unpublished%20Manuscript%20Kurzban%20&%20Weeden%202005.pdf
At page 15 ” WHEN PARTICIPANTS APPROACH THE SPEED DATING WORLD, THEY DO SO IN THE CONTEXT OF A LONG_TERM MATING PSYCHOLOGY that is consistent with that found in prior studies on stated mate preferences. This long_term mating psychology influences not just decisions to advertise preferences, but also decisions to attend particular events. Up to the point at which the participants walk through the door, we have every reason to believe that they are driven by a typically reported long_term mate selection psychology. ONCE THEY ARE IN THE MIDST OF THE EVENT, however, we have every reason to believe that PARTICIPANTS NO LONGER BEHAVE CONSISTENTLY WITH THEIR LONG_TERM MATE PSYCHOLOGY BUT INSTEAD SHIFT TO A SHORT_TERM MATE PSYCHOLOGY, WHERE PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS DOMINATES, where sex differences are minimal (other than sex differences in the criteria that determine physical attractiveness), and where niche_based or assortative concerns no longer matter much.”
Also the paper “What Makes You Click? — Mate Preferences and Matching Outcomes in Online Dating” belongs to the collection of “papers” trying to explain marriage as an economic function.
“What Makes You Click? — Mate Preferences and Matching Outcomes in Online Dating”
“Who Marries Whom and Why”
“Lifecycle marriage matching: Theory and evidence”
“WHAT MATCHINGS CAN BE STABLE? THE REFUTABILITY OF MATCHING THEORY”
“Equilibrium matching with ageing and uncertain careers: who marries whom and when?”
“If there are no career options for women, then women will prefer to marry relatively early in life (especially if their marriage prospects decline with age). In markets where women have equal career opportunities, however, females who expect to prosper in the labour market may delay marriage as much as men.”
They propose marriage can be predicted using mainly Gale_Shapley algorithm, General Equilibrium Theory and Non_cooperative Game Theory. Unfortunately those papers do not take into account temporal patterns of romantic relationship development.
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com