A study of how dating app users select partners online is, not surprisingly, superficial or “super facial.” Most decide to “swipe right,” or save a partner profile, based on perceived attractiveness and race. And most decisions are made in less than a second.
Forget the carefully worded profiles capturing personality, interests, openness to hook-ups, dating or relationship preferences. None of that seemed to matter to the college students and middle-aged adults studied by researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Maryland and published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
Male participants, on average, swiped right more often than women, and it was also found that individuals who perceive themselves to be more attractive swipe left more often overall, proving to be choosier when picking out potential partners. Users were significantly more likely to swipe right on users within their same race, and profiles of users of color were rejected more often than those of white users.
According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 10 American adults have landed a long-term relationship from an online dating app, such as Tinder, OKCupid and Match.com.
