We examined participant & target predictors of dating behavior in a swiping task; target attractiveness & race were the largest predictors of decisions; individual personality traits were not important to make decisions

Modeling dating decisions in a mock swiping paradigm: An examination of participant and target characteristics. William J. Chopik, David J. Johnson. Journal of Research in Personality, Available online 20 February 2021, 104076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104076

Highlights

• We examined participant and target predictors of dating behavior in a swiping task.

• Target attractiveness and target race were the largest predictors of decisions.

• Individual difference characteristics were poor predictors.

• The relative influence of predictors in mobile-based dating apps are discussed.

Abstract: New online dating platforms, such as Tinder, are dramatically changing the context in which people seek romantic relationships. In these platforms, users select partners they are willing to start a conversation with by “swiping” on them. These platforms provide exciting possibilities for applying new methods to test how user (e.g., demographic, personality) and target/partner (e.g., attractiveness, race) factors predict attraction. Across four laboratory studies (total N = 2,679), target physical attractiveness and target race were the largest predictors of decisions in this hypothetical dating context, whereas user individual difference traits were poor predictors. The current studies provide substantive information about the factors that predict romantic attraction in the context of mobile-based dating applications.

Keywords: Tinderdating decisionsindividual differencesmating behaviorraceattraction