Hot or Not? The Psychology of Att...

Hot or Not? The Psychology of Attraction on Dating Apps

The Great RomCon? by Jim Clark

Episode notes

Human attraction, the elusive spark or personal chemistry you have with some people (but not others), has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. We assess available metrics in person: body language, eye contact, confidence - all these tiny signals that help us work out whether someone is attractive, trustworthy, dangerous, charismatic, boorish, pompous, intelligent or completely insufferable.

Then, in the space of about fifteen years, we collectively decided to move dating onto apps where most of that information disappeared. Now attraction often begins with six photos, a vaguely ironic reference to Hawaiian pizza, and the strategy of delayed replies.

So, how are we actually navigating this strange new environment? Are dating apps helping us identify compatible partners more efficiently, or are they distorting this natural in-pe ... 

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Keywords
Sex and relationshipsOnline and app datingTechnology platforms