Citation

Dai M, Robbins R. Comput. Hum. Behav. 2021; 117: e106667.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chb.2020.106667

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Online dating is more popular than ever, and Tinder has established a new platform for online daters to communicate. The current study examined how dating profiles and pick-up lines influenced young heterosexual adults' dating intention on Tinder. The study recruited a total of 237 young heterosexual adults to participate in a 2 (profile gender) x 2 (message humor) x 2 (message compliment) online experiment. In the experiment, participants viewed a Tinder profile of their opposite sex and one of the four manipulated pick-up lines. The results showed that perceived attractiveness and perceived positive attributes (e.g., kindness, intelligence) of the person in the dating profile were significant predictors of both long-term and short-term dating intentions in the overall sample. Among men, the dating profile's perceived attractiveness was the sole predictor of long-term and short-term dating intentions. The dating profile's perceived positive attributes were a significant predictor of both long-term and short-term dating intentions among women. More importantly, message humor and message compliment had significant interaction effects on both long-term and short-term dating intentions among women. We discuss the contributions and implications to research on online dating research, evolutionary social psychology, and hyperpersonal perspective.

Language: en

Keywords

Dating profile; Gender differences; Online dating; Pick-up lines; Tinder