Scientist shocked that people lie on dating
sites
Short and fat people lie more
By Nick Farrell: Friday 02 February 2007, 07:53
A BOFFIN writing for Scientific American has come up with the
staggering news that people tell porkies when they write their
profiles for online dating agencies.
Robert Epstein said that more than 90 per cent of online daters lie
about something in their profiles. He points to research from
Michigan State University which shows that the shorter and heavier
people tend to tell bigger lies about themselves.
Men tend to overestimate their height by about an inch and women
understate their weight more as they get older. A woman in her 20s
will take off five pounds, while a woman in her 30s will subtract
17 pounds.
Surprisingly, only 13 per cent of men will be married and say they
are single, but they will lie about their educational level,
income, height, and age. Women will lie about their weight,
physical appearance and age.
Epstein's research confirms that people who do not post a picture
are wasting their time as no-one bothers looking at those who
don't. He thought it interesting that only one per cent of people
thought they were unattractive.
Apparently watch for women who say their ages are 29 or between the
ages of 30 and 34. For some reason there is a spike in the number
of people who claim to be this age which is unlikely
statistically.
Epstein thinks this is because people who claim those ages are more
frequently making it up. Certain numerical ages are especially
appealing, presumably because our culture attaches less stigma to
those ages, he said.
For a 4-page interesting report, read here.. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa017&articleID=79C583A1-E7F2-99DF-3BE62D88C9C352E0
