Have you ever wondered if how you look and what your personality is affects how people interact with you in the dating world? Well look no further; over the last 3 months I’ve conducted an experiment to find out the answer to this question. The results may or may not shock you, depending on how bitter you have been.

The Experiment:
I decided to create two profiles on a location based dating application for Android, profile X was myself with my own pictures, and profile Y was photos of a friend of mine who most would consider attractive. My friend consented to the use of his photographs for this experiment. My process was to interact with people via this application synonymously and with the exact same personality as my own. I would answer in the exact same way. I put limits on meeting people as to not blow my cover.

The following conclusions were taken over the course of the three months:

Profile X
Others took approximately 70% longer to initiate conversation with a total of 20 conducted in the timeframe
Responding to initiated conversations was roughly 20%
Persons contacted requested additional photographs 9% of the time
Persons contacted requested nude photographs 5% of the time
Conversations were limited, with the other not seeming very interested
There were 5 requests for meeting face to face.
There were 0 requests for hooking up.
Nearly all persons contacted lost touch within the timeframe of 3 months.
Persons contacted would be considered with the following adjectives: older, moderately attractive, pushy, disinterested.

Compared to:

Profile Y
Within creating profile there were 70% more visitors to the profile, and a total of 389 initiated conversations in the timeframe.
Responding to initiated conversations was roughly 89%
Persons contacted requested additional photographs 100% of the time.
Persons contacted requested nude photographs 85% of the time.
Conversations were lively, and persons seemed very eager.
There were 340 requests for meeting face to face.
There were 114 requests for hooking up.
Of the 340 requests for meeting face to face, 70% were within the first 5 messages
Of the total conversed persons, 15% lost touch within 30 days, 58% within 60 days, and remaining 27% within 90 days.
Persons contacted would be considered with the following adjectives: varied in age, very attractive to hardly attractive, pushy, interested, curious, forward and very sexual.

Are these results surprising to you? Were you one of those people who thought that looks didn’t matter? Does this change how you see situations at all?

I think all the experience did was confirmed what I already believed. What really surprised me was the fact that I was able to maintain the same level of conversation and responses without getting discouraged and irritated given the differences in experience. What bothers me the most is that this experiment also speaks about a persons personality and how little or how much it can have an importance.

With Profile Y, no matter what was said intrest was still kept and made the whole experience feel very superficial. With Profile X, people seemed more polite but unwilling in just about any circumstance.

Take what you want from this; I know I have. >:XX