Freakonomics and Online Dating
There was finally a chance for me to read a book "everyone" was talking about a couple of years ago. I just read Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The only reason I bring this up is there were a few pages about online dating. Almost everything he discusses, we have posted on our site at one time or another.
Here's a rundown of what he discussed:
-Ali Hortacsu, Gunter J. Hitsch, and Dan Ariely studied the data from 30,000 people on a mainstream dating site. A major finding was that they were, "a lot richer, taller, skinnie, and better-looking than average," based on what they wrote about themselves.
-70% of women and 67% of men claimed "above average" looks.... Ever been to the DMV? Are 70% of people even remotely good looking?
-28% of women said they were blond, FAR ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE! "Dyeing, Lying, or both?"
-8% of men actually were upfront and said they were married. Only 9 of the over 500 married men in the study actually posted a picture.
-The "most certain" way to fail at online dating is not posting a picture. A man that has no picture receives, on average, 1/4th the volume as a man that does; a woman sans photo receives 1/6th the responses.
-"A low-income, poorly educated, un-happily employed, not-very-attractive, slightly overweight, and balding man who posts his photo stands a better chance of gleaning some emails than a man who says he makes $200,000 and is deadly handsome but doesn't post a photo."
-Men who say they want a long-term relationship do better than those loooking for short-term choices.
-Women that say they want something fleeting, do better than those looking long-term.
-For women, a man's income is very important. For men, a woman's income to respose is a normal curve- men don't want women that make very little or a lot.
-Women avoid laborers, actors, and students. Women prefer military men, police, firemen, lawyers, and financial executives.
-Men are looking for artists, students, musicians, veterinarians... they avoid secretaries and women in military/ law enforcement.
-What physical traits are a disadvantage for men? Being short, red hair, curly hair, & balding (shaved head is okay). Being somewhat overweight is okay. Sucks if you are balding with curly red hair!
-What physical traits are a disadvantage for women? Being overweight and having salt and pepper hair. Blond hair is very good.
On a side note, if you liked this book, check out More Sex is Safer Sex - The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, by Steven E. Landsburg.
Happy dating!
7 comments:
The Landsburg book is nowhere as well thought out. Similar books, but Freakonomics is better. Did you read the new edition of Freakonomics?
Have more sex. Stop AIDS. HAHAHA. Landsburg book takes the cake.
Humorist economists. Great books. Great site, love the bull fighter story.
Changing my occupation, removing my salary, and checking LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP RIGHT NOW.
Thanks.
36 hours later and I already have better success! Wow. Thanks.
Doing a paper on the implications of Freakonomics on american culture. I'm including a note about your site. Best regards.
Thank you!
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