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A core component of social anxiety is the constant concern about what others think of the self. Could such metaperceptions-beliefs about how others view the self-play a role in relationship initiation attempts? In the present research, we examined whether metaperceptions may contribute to why people higher in social anxiety experience difficulties in initial interactions. In 2 first-impressions contexts, a platonic getting-acquainted context (Study 1: N = 544; 2,878 dyads) and a speed dating context (Study 2: N = 376; 4,797 dyads), we explored the roles of 2 components of metaperceptions: meta-positivity (i.e., believing interaction partners' perceptions of the self are in line with the socially desirable personality profile) and distinctive meta-accuracy (i.e., accurately recognizing interaction partners' unique perception of the self, controlling for meta-positivity). Results revealed that people higher in social anxiety were liked less by interaction partners across both contexts, a link that was partially accounted for by lower distinctive meta-accuracy displayed by those higher in social anxiety. Further, lower meta-positivity displayed by people higher in social anxiety also contributed to the links between greater social anxiety and being liked less in the platonic setting and liking others less in both contexts. In sum, metaperceptions may play an important role in shaping initial interactions, potentially helping to explain why people with greater social anxiety encounter difficulties forming new relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Viewing others with distinctive accuracy – the degree to which personality impressions corresponds with targets’ unique characteristics – often predict positive interpersonal experiences, including liking and relationship satisfaction. Does this hold in the context of first dates, or might distinctive accuracy have negative links with romantic interest in such evaluative settings? We examined this with two speed-dating samples (N1 = 172, Ndyad = 2407; N2 = 397, Ndyad = 1849). Not surprisingly, positive impressions of potential dating partners were strongly associated with greater romantic interest. In contrast, distinctively accurate impressions were associated with significantly less romantic interest. This association was even stronger for potential partners whose personalities were less romantically appealing, specifically, those lower in extraversion. In sum, on a first date, distinctive accuracy tends to be paired with lower romantic interest. The potential implications of distinctive accuracy for romantic interest and of interest for distinctive accuracy are discussed.

What happens when we unexpectedly see an attractive potential partner? Previous studies in laboratory settings suggest that the visualization of attractive and unattractive photographs influences the perception of time. The major aim of this research is to study time perception and attraction in a realistic social scenario, by investigating if changes in subjective time measured during a speed dating are associated with attraction. The duration of the dates was variable and participants had to estimate the time that passed. Among other measures, participants also rated the potential partners in terms of their physical attractiveness before and after the dates and reported if they would like to exchange contact with them. Results showed that, in a real speed dating situation, when there is a perception of the partner as being physically more attractive, women tend to overestimate the duration of that meeting, whereas men tend to underestimate its duration. Such changes may reflect evolutionary adaptations which make the human cognitive system more responsive in situations related to reproductive fitness.

Several studies have identified inconsistencies between “stated” interpersonal attitudes and those “revealed” after an interaction. The authors used the speed-dating paradigm to examine stated and revealed attitudes in ingroup preferences among Asian American subgroups (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino Americans). Young single Asian Americans ( n = 198) reported preferences for dating different ethnicities and went on speed dates, after which they could offer second dates to their partners. As expected, all four ethnic subgroups showed clear ingroup biases in stated preferences. Ingroup bias in revealed preferences (measured through date offers and ratings of partners’ mate desirability), however, were minimal. At the individual level, stated ingroup preferences did not significantly predict revealed ingroup preferences. In summary, among young Asian Americans, ingroup preferences may not hold in an interactive scenario. The findings suggest that in the presence of personal cues provided through a brief interaction, people may be less prone to make judgments on the basis of ethnicity, even when consequences extend beyond the laboratory. Furthermore, mechanisms for selecting a partner may differ in “hot” (affective) versus “cold” (cognitive) states.

In Western culture, both pop theory and recent behavioral research support the “nice guy stereotype,” suggesting that communal qualities that emphasize caring for others may be unattractive in men....

Attachment insecurity is generally associated with low romantic attraction from prospective partners. However, no research has examined the pan-cultural applicability of attachment and initial romantic attraction, referring to the extent to which attachment processes are implicated in romantic attraction across cultures. We examined if attachment insecurity influenced initial romantic attraction in the actor and partner, and whether effects were moderated by culture. Participants (n = 93 heterosexual participants, 42 of Western ancestry and 51 of Chinese ancestry) completed a measure of attachment and subsequently completed a speed-dating session. Women were less attracted to men high in attachment avoidance irrespective of culture, though attachment anxiety and avoidance were unrelated to male initial romantic attraction. Chinese women were more attracted to men higher in attachment anxiety, whereas attachment anxiety was unrelated to attraction in Western women. The pan-cultural applicability of attachment and romantic attraction is discussed, with particular focus on the extent to which attachment influences romantic attraction across cultures.

How do our feelings impact the romantic judgments and decisions we make? In a speed-dating context, where people have to judge potential romantic partners sequentially, we investigated whether and how participants’ prior affective state guided romantic desire toward and actual choice for an interaction partner. We found evidence for contrast effects, meaning that romantic judgments contrasted with the affective states participants were in at the start of a new interaction. The more positive (excited, interested, or happy) participants felt after one interaction partner, the less attracted they were toward a new interaction partner, and the more negative they felt (irritated or bored), the more attracted they were. The effect of negative emotions (NEs) was primarily visible in men, for whom more prior NEs even increased the chance of choosing an interaction partner at the end of the evening. The effect of positive emotions (PEs), however, had faded away when people chose their date at the end. Additional analyses revealed that specific emotions showed differential effects on romantic desire and actual choice and that contrast effects were mediated but not fully explained (at least in the case of PEs) by desire toward the previous interaction partner. ispartof: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships vol:36 issue:8 pages:2437-2454 status: published

The present study employed a real-life speed-dating methodology with three conditions: a face-to-face (FTF) condition, a video-mediated communication (VMC) condition without eye-contact (Skype) and a VMC condition with eye-contact (an Eye-Catcher). The first aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eye-contact on the development of romantic attraction. Second, this study analysed the role of four interactive uncertainty reduction strategies (URSs) in the relationship between eye-contact and romantic attraction, namely (intimacy of) self-disclosure and (intimacy of) question asking. The results revealed no direct effect of eye-contact on romantic attraction. Moreover, there were more (intimate) self-disclosures in conditions with eye-contact, but fewer (intimate) questions asked. These findings suggest that communication conditions with eye-contact result in less information-seeking behaviour, in terms of question asking. However, people share more personal, intimate information about themselves to their interaction partner. Conclusively, eye-contact in initial interactions induces less uncertainty and more intimacy, compared to interactions without eye-contact.

Initial romantic attraction has important implications for the development of romantic relationships. Much research demonstrates that physical attractiveness predicts initial romantic attraction. However, less is known about the influence of individual difference characteristics on initial romantic attraction. Here we examined whether dispositional mindfulness predicted initial romantic attraction beyond the effects of physical attractiveness in a speed-dating experiment. Women were more attracted to men higher in dispositional mindfulness, beyond the effects of physical attractiveness. Men were more attracted to women who were more physically attractive, but female mindfulness did not influence male initial attraction. This is the first study to examine the role of dispositional mindfulness in predicting initial romantic attraction.

Speed-dating studies provide a useful venue for studying attraction and other relationship initiation processes. They provide researchers with a unique opportunity to assess how much a dyadic behavior (e.g., attraction) is due to some relationship-specific adjustment or the dispositional tendencies of the two people interacting. Researchers can also investigate the impact of individual difference variables on relationship initiation outcomes. This article shows researchers how to address such interesting questions by providing an extended treatment of how to apply the social relations model (D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984) to data from a typical speed-dating study with heterosexual dyads. The statistical program SPSS is used given its widespread use and accessibility.

What predicts initial romantic attraction in the opposite sex? Asking questions like this that are intrinsically interesting to students helps them see that data analysis is not just about finishin...

We bring a conversation analytic perspective to the phenomenon of soliciting and providing motives for participation in speed dating. Using data from three speed-dating events, we analyze how college-aged volunteers in a research study collaboratively formulate motives for participation and identities as speed daters. The findings reveal detailed and sequentially organized procedures by which participants display, monitor, and enforce normative expectations about how people of their age should treat this institutional activity. In particular, participants use a three-turn motive solicitation sequence to produce ‘casual’ accounts for participation that suggest a disinvested orientation toward speed dating. In the few cases in which what might be considered the ‘obvious’ motive for speed dating is invoked – meeting someone to date – it tends to be done ironically. When offered in earnest, however, interlocutors withhold alignment with this motive and treat it as accountable.

Mutual mate choice is prevalent in humans, where both males and females have a say in their choice of partner. How the choices made by one sex constrain the choice of the other remains poorly understood, however, because human studies have mostly limited themselves to measuring preferences. We used a sample of 5782 speed-daters making 128 104 choices to link preferences for partner height to actual choice and the formation of a match (the mutual expression of interest to meet again). We show that sexual conflict at the level of preferences is translated into choice: women were most likely to choose a speed-dater 25 cm taller than themselves, whereas men were most likely to choose women only 7 cm shorter than themselves. As a consequence, matches were most likely at an intermediate height difference (19 cm) that differed significantly from the preferred height difference of both sexes. Thus, our study reveals how mutual mate choice can result in suboptimal pair formation for both sexes, highlighting the importance of assessing the mate choice process in its entirety. (C) 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dating apps on smartphones have brought speed dating on the Internet to a new level. This exploratory investigation sought to determine what kinds of people use these apps, what their motivations are, and what precautions they take before meeting someone. One hundred and seventy-three non-users and 57 current users of dating apps were surveyed. The data suggest that the strongest motive for using dating apps is not for dating or sex, but for entertainment. On the other hand, the more frequent users of these apps are people whose personalities are predisposed towards varied sexual partners. These different motives may represent a disconnect between those who wish to kill time and those who are seeking sexual partners.

We use conversation analysis and a research design modeled on speed dating to examine college-aged speed daters’ assessments of their experience of this activity. In getting acquainted, participants solicit and provide accounts of the experience that treat it delicately and impersonally. Further, participants collaborate to claim a shared naivete toward speed dating, thereby presenting themselves as ordinary college students having a new experience. Non-standard assessment sequences throw such patterned practices into relief, and feature the disclosure of personal troubles occasioned by the experience. Our findings have implications for the study of assessments, impression management, acquaintanceship, and relationship initiation.

The ability to judge the romantic interest between others is an important aspect of mate choice for species living in social groups. Research has previously shown that humans can do this quickly—observers watching short clips of speed-dating videos can accurately predict the outcomes. Here we extend this work to show that observers from widely varying cultures can judge these same videos with roughly equal accuracy. Participants in the USA, China, and Germany perform similarly not only overall but also at the level of judging individual speed-daters: Some daters are easy to read by observers from all cultures, while others are consistently difficult. These cross-cultural performance similarities provide evidence for an adaptive mechanism useful for mate choice that could be resilient to cultural differences.

This study examines how potential romantic partners in speed-dating encounters use gender to both proffer and formulate mate-preferences as a means of establishing affiliation. Drawing on a corpus of 36 speed-dating interactions, a sequential discursive psychological approach was used to analyze how gendered mate-preferences were initially elicited and formulated, as well as the interactional effects of mate-preferences that were designed to appear complicit versus resistant to gender conventionality. The findings reveal that both mate-preference solicitations and formulations were categorically gendered and were treated as incipient or expected, suggesting that gendering mate-preferences is a normative action in first encounters by potential romantic partners. Further, mate-preferences that were marked as conventional rarely promoted an environment of mutual affiliation, whereas mate-preferences that were formulated as resistant to gender-conventionality did tend to function as a preliminary for affective affiliation. The study reveals that the gendering of mate-preferences is a responsive social practice with an interactional design that has relational consequences for the ways potential romantic partners create connection.

In contrast to experimental psychological speed-dating research in which mate preferences are typically measured as survey responses triggered by a live interactional manipulation, the current study uses a discursive psychological perspective to examine actual mate-preference talk by potential romantic partners in live conversational contexts. Drawing on a corpus of 36 speed-dating interactions, this study examines how mate preferences were elicited, initially formulated, and how responses to mate-preference disclosures were organized across their environment of expansion. Three broad trends emerged. First, the vast majority of mate-preference disclosures were not only prompted, but were prompted in ways that occasioned delayed responses. Second, the majority of initial mate-preference formulations were delayed or mitigated, revealing that requests for and disclosures of mate preferences were delicate social actions. And finally, delayed responses often occasioned protracted expansion sequences which, at ...

Studies of personal relationships have often been conducted in the laboratory, on the self-report questionnaire, or in the interview. In contrast, this article studies relationships via a corpus of 30 British speed-dating encounters between 30–45-year-old heterosexual couples, in which talk about previous relationships was pervasively relevant. The analysis examines how talk about prior relationships, and current relationship status, was occasioned and accounted for. The first section shows that, in the overall structure of the date, talk about relationship histories was located after talk about other matters (e.g., occupation, place of residence). Second, relationship history questions contained design features for managing the delicacy of answering them (e.g., trail-off “or” turn endings), as well as paired categorial items (e.g., a question about children was answered in terms of one's marital status and vice versa). In the final section, the analysis shows that and how participants treat some relation...

Recent studies have found that mimicking the verbal and nonverbal behavior of strangers enhances their liking of the individual who mimicked them. An experiment was carried out in two bars during six sessions of speed dating for which young women confederates volunteered to mimic or not some verbal expressions and nonverbal behaviors of a man for 5 minutes. Data revealed that the men evaluated the dating interaction more positively when the woman mimicked them, and that mimicry was associated with a higher evaluation score of the relation and the sexual attractiveness of the woman. Mimicry appears to influence perceptions of physical attributes in addition to personal and social attributes.

We examine racial preferences in dating. We employ a Speed Dating experiment that allows us to directly observe individual decisions and thus infer whose preferences lead to racial segregation in romantic relationships. Females exhibit stronger racial preferences than males. The richness of our data further allows us to identify many determinants of same-race preferences. Subjects' backgrounds, including the racial composition of the ZIP code where a subject grew up and the prevailing racial attitudes in a subject's state or country of origin, strongly influence same-race preferences. Older subjects and more physically attractive subjects exhibit weaker same-race preferences. Copyright 2008, Wiley-Blackwell.

Using data from the Berlin Speed Dating Study, we tested rival hypotheses concerning the effects of self–enhancement of attractiveness on dating outcomes. Three hundred eighty–two participants took part in one of the 17 speed–dating sessions. After each speed–dating interaction, participants indicated how interesting they found the respective person as a long–term and short–term partner. Using social relations analyses, we computed perceiver effects (being more or less choosy) and target effects (being rated as more or less interesting) of long–term and short–term partner ratings. Self–enhancement was operationalized as the discrepancy between self–rated attractiveness and four components of actual attractiveness (observer–rated facial and vocal attractiveness, height and body mass index). Results indicated that self–enhancers were less choosy with respect to their interest for short–term partners, which was especially true for men, but more choosy with respect to long–term partners. With regard to popularity as a mate, potential partners indicated that they found self–enhancers more interesting as short–term partners but not as long–term partners. As self–enhancement is a key component of narcissism, these results are consistent with findings that narcissists perceive many sexual affairs as an achievement, while preferring selected ‘trophy’ long–term partners, and narcissists have a charming appeal for short–term, but not lasting, social relationships. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

We study dating behavior using data from a Speed Dating experiment where we generate random matching of subjects and create random variation in the number of potential partners. Our design allows us to directly observe individual decisions rather than just final matches. Women put greater weight on the intelligence and the race of partner, while men respond more to physical attractiveness. Moreover, men do not value women’s intelligence or ambition when it exceeds their own. Also, we find that women exhibit a preference for men who grew up in affluent neighborhoods. Finally, male selectivity is invariant to group size, while female selectivity is strongly increasing in group size.

To investigate the choices that people make in dating partners, we analyzed data provided by HurryDate, a commercial dating service aimed at adult singles living in major metropolitan areas. Here, we report data from 10,526 participants in HurryDate sessions, in which roughly 25 men and 25 women interacted with each other for three minutes and subsequently indicated which of the people they met they would be interested in having contact with in the future. We had general survey information collected by HurryDate for all the participants and additional survey information for 2,650 participants. Our main findings are that (1) HurryDate interactions are driven primarily by generally agreed-upon mate values and less by niche-based or assortative patterns, (2) the agreed-upon mate values for both men and women derive almost exclusively from physically observable attributes like attractiveness, BMI, height, and age and are not substantially related to harder-to-observe attributes such as education, religion, sociosexuality, having children, or desiring future children, and (3) small positive assortative trends arise in the areas of race and height. Our results provide rare behavioral evidence regarding people’s preferences in dating partners.

Funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund., Evolutionary theory predicts that men will prefer physically attractive romantic partners, and women will prefer wealthy, high-status partners. This theory is well-supported when examining ideal hypothetical partner preferences, but less support has been found when people interact face-to-face. The present study served as a direct replication of results reported in Eastwick and Finkel (2008). We recruited 307 participants and utilized a speed-dating methodology to allow in-person interactions, then administered follow-up surveys to measure romantic interest over 30 days. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling and were aggregated using meta-analysis. Consistent with previous findings, our results showed that participants were more romantically interested in potential partners if they were viewed as attractive and good potential earners, and these associations were not moderated by gender. Results suggest that gender differences predicted by evolutionary theory may not hold when people interact with potential romantic partners face-to-face. However, we discuss these results in light of some general methodological limitations and evidence from other lines of research.

Previous research has shown that men with higher facial width-to-height ratios (fWHRs) have higher testosterone and are more aggressive, more powerful, and more financially successful. We tested whether they are also more attractive to women in the ecologically valid mating context of speed dating. Men’s fWHR was positively associated with their perceived dominance, likelihood of being chosen for a second date, and attractiveness to women for short-term, but not long-term, relationships. Perceived dominance (by itself and through physical attractiveness) mediated the relationship between fWHR and attractiveness to women for short-term relationships. Furthermore, men’s perceptions of their own dominance showed patterns of association with mating desirability similar to those of fWHR. These results support the idea that fWHR is a physical marker of dominance. This is the first study to show that male dominance and higher fWHRs are attractive to women for short-term relationships in a controlled and interactive situation that could actually lead to mating and dating. peerReviewed

Love and other emotional rents play an important role for marriage decisions. A mutually happy marriage often ends a long series of emotionally disappointing matches. This paper analyses the role of “speed daters”, that is, individuals who are matched more frequently with new possible marriage partners. Speed daters change the equilibrium in a marriage matching model. Speed daters reject quite good matches, leading to a high rate of rejections and failed matches. Speed daters appear to be “heart-breakers”. This imposes a welfare loss on other individuals who meet new candidates less frequently. Hence, finding out that the next matched partner is a speed dater is actually bad news for an unmarried person.

Are people who are funny more attractive? Or does being attractive lead people to be seen as funnier? The answer may depend on the underlying evolutionary function of humor. While humor has been proposed to signal “good genes,” the authors propose that humor also functions to indicate interest in social relationships—in initiating new relationships and in monitoring existing ones. Consistent with this interest indicator model, across three studies both sexes were more likely to initiate humor and to respond more positively and consider the other person to be funny when initially attracted to that person. The findings support that humor dynamics— and not just humor displays—influence romantic chemistry for both men and women, suggesting that humor can ultimately function as a strategy to initiate and monitor social relationships.

This study examined the characteristics of individuals who are more likely to engage in speed dating and online dating, and the types of people who are more likely to prefer these forms of dating. Older individuals and those who scored high on shyness were more likely to have tried online dating. Older individuals, those who scored high on shyness, and those who had tried online dating were more likely to consider using it in the future. Younger individuals were more likely to have tried speed dating. Those who had already tried speed dating were more likely to consider using it in the future. We argue here that online dating offers some advantages for shy individuals.\ud

We examine racial preferences in dating using data that allow for the direct observation of decisions of randomly paired individuals in a Speed Dating experiment. Females exhibit stronger racial preferences than males. Furthermore, we observe stronger same race preferences for blacks and Asians than for Hispanics and whites. Accounting for self-reported shared interests considerably reduces the observed effect of racial preferences.