While using the dating app Tinder, Flemish people are looking for a partner who resembles them in terms of friendliness and openness, but as good looking as possible, according to an experiment from the University of Ghent.
Researchers at the University of Ghent (UGent) simulated the Tinder dating app to research the partner choice of 500 participants, analysing survey data on 7,846 Tinder profile evaluations.
In general, people are looking for potential partners that they perceive to be about the same age as themselves, the results showed.
Users are looking for partners they believe are as friendly and open to experience as they are. The researchers also studied whether people used the same logic for personality traits such as extroversion, emotional stability and orderliness when selecting a partner, but found no significant results.
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In terms of physical attractiveness, however, people are not looking for someone who is at the same level of attractiveness as they are. "Previous studies show that physical attractiveness is not a so-called 'horizontal' but a 'vertical attribute.' It means that people do not have a preference for a potential partner who is about as attractive as they are, but for one who is as attractive as possible," said researcher Brecht Neyt, reports Het Nieuwsblad.
"The latter finding may be magnified on dating apps because the psychological cost in case of rejection is significantly lower compared to a rejection offline. Using Tinder, people have no reason not to like very attractive potential partners," he added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times