Online dating? It’s no better than real life
DATING websites promise to take the hassle out of finding love by using scientific-sounding algorithms to match us to our perfect partner.
But a study found what many users have always suspected – they are no better than the average human at selecting Mr or Mrs Right.
Psychologists entered a set of personality traits, values and partner preferences into a database from a pool of 350 lonely hearts, emulating how online dating apps work.
Matches chatted a week later for four minutes at a speed dating event. But while able to forecast who would get on well, the algorithms simply could not predict whether couples would be sexually attracted to one other – meaning there is no ‘easy fix’ to finding love.
Love, researchers concluded, is not a ‘chemical reaction’ in which people’s personalities combine perfectly – but a far harder to forecast ‘earthquake’.
Samantha Joel, professor of psychology at the University of Utah, said: ‘Attraction for a particular person may be difficult or impossible to predict before two people have actually met.
‘Dating can be hard and anxiety provoking and there’s a market there for a short cut. But our data suggests that, there isn’t an easy fix for finding love.’
The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, concluded in real life couples bond over shared experiences, thoughts and feelings.