A recently published study used eye-tracking technology to gain deeper insights into how men and women assess dating profiles on online-dating platforms. The study provides an interesting look at the different ways heterosexual women and men evaluate online dating profiles and outlines major differences in how both genders look at dating profiles.
Online dating platforms such as Tinder and Bumble have been around for more than a decade and have helped millions of people worldwide find romantic partners. Although the popularity of these platforms has dipped slightly in recent years, countless people worldwide still use dating apps every day. Statista estimates that the number of people using dating platforms globally surpassed 381 million last year.
Published in the “Archives of Sexual Behavior” journal, the study used cutting-edge, eye-tracking technology to determine what 20 men and women looked at when they viewed dating profiles. It found that men typically focus on facial attractiveness and pay little attention to income level or occupation. Furthermore, conventionally unattractive women with high earning potential or prestigious jobs seemed to attract more facial scrutiny from men.
University of New England associate professor in clinical psychology and lead study author Amy Lykins says the researchers were surprised to learn that men tended to pay more visual attention to “nominally unattractive” women when they had high-paying jobs. While such women typically don’t attract a lot of attention on online dating apps, Lykins said, they draw more attention when they have lucrative jobs.
Women, on the other hand, were much more nuanced in their considerations. They tended to consider physical attractiveness after regarding a man’s occupation and income level but would focus more on their looks if the men had less prestigious jobs or lower income. Lykins says men with lower resources attracted more visual attention from women regardless of their level of attractiveness.
Although the study didn’t provide conclusive answers, it seems that women are more willing to consider lower-earning men if they are attractive. Men, on the other hand, were more generous to high-earning women who weren’t that attractive.
The study also found that both women and men spent more time looking at the faces of other dating platform users compared to their bodies. The study noted that 83% of the men and women involved in the study focused on faces, something Lykins says was expected. The associate professor says that even if people are “barely clothed” or even naked, many prior eye-tracking studies have found that faces tend to draw the most interest.
These insights can be evaluated by entities that have interests in the online dating industry, such as Momo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOMO), so that they provide actionable tips to their users who would like to attract the right partners while using the platforms.
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