Impression formation on online dating sites: Effects of language errors in profile texts on perceptions of profile owners’ attractiveness

Impression formation on online dating sites: Effects of language errors in profile texts on perceptions of profile owners’ attractiveness. Tess Van der Zanden et al. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, October 3, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519878787

Abstract: This article presents two experimental studies investigating the impact of language errors in online dating profiles on impression formation. A first study examined whether language errors have a negative effect on perceptions of attraction and dating intention and whether this effect is moderated by the presence of visual information, that is, the profile picture. This 2 (Language Errors/No Language Errors) × 2 (Visible/Blurred Picture) experiment revealed that language errors negatively affect perceptions of social and romantic attraction and that a visible picture on a profile positively affects perceptions of physical attraction. Study 2 focused on mechanical, rule-based, and informal language errors, which can each be attributed to different personality traits. Mechanical and rule-based errors lead to lower scores on, respectively, perceived attentiveness and intelligence, which in turn lead to lower attraction and dating intention scores. These results highlight the importance of error-free language use as a cue for attractiveness.

Keywords Dating profiles, impression formation, language errors, language use, online dating, profile picture