Online Dating

choi

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Courtney Humphries, Data mining the heart; How do we choose a mate? What scientists are learning from online dating. Boston Globe, Aug. 22, 2010.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/08/22/data_mining_the_heart/

Note: The print but not the web version has
(1) an excerpt in the window: The web has streamlined the dating process. You can now go looking for attraction as easily as you can shop for shoes.
(2) For illustration, each with a conclusion:
(a) A figure of man (the same as that in the door to bathroom) on a block with money sign ($): By comparing height to salary, they found a man who is 5 feet 9 inches tall needs to make between $35,000 and $40,000 more per year to get as much responses as a man who is  5 feet 10 inches tall.
(b) a frog with a crown on top of its head: Women, on the other hand, are more harsh on men, rating the majority as elow average, but are more likely than men to send messages to people they don't find attractive.
(c) a figure of a woman (same as that in the door to bathroom) with a lighted cigarette in her hand:
Another surprise: smoking cigarettes actually increases a woan's popularity on dating sites, which may be because men associate smoking with promiscuity.
(d) a face that is not smiling: In an analysis of 7,000 user photos, men, surprisingly, did better when they looked away from the camera and didn't smile.

My comment:
(1) je ne sais quoi (n; French, literally, I know not what): "something that cannot be adequately described or expressed"  www.m-w.com
(2) Oktrends: The official blog of OkCupid.com
http://blog.okcupid.com/
(3) The Globe report says, at web page 4:

"Indeed, some of the strongest findings from multiple dating sites have revealed discrepancies in how we talk and act in relation to race; while most people profess to being colorblind, the numbers show something quite different. Race influences the number of responses aspiring daters get, with white men having the clearest advantage.

So, Chinese men should acceot their fate, not verbally abusing Chinese women who date or marry foreign men.

(4) The studies are based on mathematics. I am a biologist by training. So I know a thing or two about preferences, from biological research. It has been found from butterflies to humans that animmals prefer symmetry.
Facial symmetry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_symmetry

Biologists surmise that to attain symmetry, as opposed to lost limb or torn wing (in butterfly), the individual has to be strong since childhood--and relatively privileged in upbringing.

I met a Chinese man recently, about 30, 35 years old, who can not speak English and is seeking political asylum in US. (I did not ask why.) His scalp has a huge scar about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. His childhood must have been rough, I think.

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