What Influences Partner Choice Online?

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Selecting romantic partners who are similar to ourselves is known as assortative mating. Such similarity may be in terms of shared values and beliefs, or physical attractiveness similarity. Furthermore, assortative mating may also involve similarity in age, ethnicity, or educational level. However, online dating differs from traditional dating in many ways—for example, there is an absence of nonverbal cues and limited information about the dating profile owner overall. We may therefore wonder whether online daters necessarily always opt for similarity when seeking a dating partner or, indeed, whether they exhibit different choice patterns or invoke other strategies in making a mate choice.

Giulia Ranzini and colleagues from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, investigated differences in choice patterns in online daters and the likelihood of them employing assortative mating. They wanted to see whether they made choices based on race, educational level, and attractiveness level. More specifically, they investigated the following:

• Whether Dutch participants chose dating profiles with a Dutch-sounding name over non-Dutch-sounding names and whether they chose a dating profile of a white person rather than a non-white person.
• Whether more highly educated participants chose profiles that described people as more highly educated.
• Whether participants will choose profiles that are more attractive compared to less attractive profiles.

Dutch participants were asked to use a simulation dating app on which they were required to view a sequence of 110 dating profiles and either accept or reject each of these. The profile pictures were either white or non-white (Black or Asian), had a Dutch name or a non-Dutch name, and were described as attending a college, university, or vocational school. They also varied in levels of attractiveness.

Study Findings

Overall, the researchers found that participants selected 12.3 percent of profiles and rejected 87.7 percent. In terms of gender differences, men were more likely than women to make positive choices and show an intention to date the stimulus profiles. This was 14.3 percent as opposed to 8.1 percent.

Race and Names

In terms of race, the results from this study provide only a little support for ethnic assortative mating. Profile names used had no influence on the choices made by participants, whereas participants whose family background was Dutch showed a preference for dating profiles of white people. This is in line with previous research, which seems to suggest that both Dutch men and women prefer Dutch partners, and also indicates that on dating apps, it is visual information on ethnicity that influences partner choice, whereas first names and other indications of culture have no effect. This is presumably because, on dating apps, visual cues are more salient than text cues.

Education

The study also found that more highly educated participants chose profiles describing the owner as having attended an institution of higher education. This is partly similar to previous research on educational similarity in partner selection. However, the current research did not show that participants who were less well-educated chose dating profiles of less well-educated individuals. The possible reason for this finding is that there is a greater benefit to more educated people compared to less educated people in selecting a partner of a similar or higher educational level. Therefore, displaying the name of a particular educational institution on a dating profile may be a method for attracting mates who are themselves educated.

Previous research suggests that college-educated users of online dating generally selected profiles of those who possessed a college degree, and generally online dating users are likely to select those of a level of education similar to them (Hitsch et al., 2010).

Attractiveness

Attractiveness level was found to be a strong predictor of profile selection, which is generally consistent with relationship research and research using dating sites. The effect of visual attractiveness is the result of the visual environment utilised on dating apps. The implication here is that on dating apps, more attractive people are more likely to find a partner, and physical attractiveness is highly important in choice in online dating. The attractiveness of a person’s profile picture has been found to be the strongest predictor of generally how desirable a profile is judged to be indicating that visual attractiveness provides one of the most salient cues in mate selection on dating sites (Brand et al., 2012).

This study points to the fact that assortative mating exists in online dating, although this seems to be highly influenced by visual cues. Furthermore, this study was carried out in the Netherlands, and it is possible that at least some of the findings may be culturally specific.