Electronic Aids to Emotional Relations: A Mind Genomics Development Cartography of a ‘Dating App’

Abstract

We present a new approach to understand what draws individuals to romantic ‘dating’ sites. The approach follows a Socratic sequence, requiring the researcher to follow a set of steps. These begin with defining the topic (dating site), then ask six related questions which ‘flesh out’ the topic, and then require six answers for each question, these answers or elements providing the detail. The actual approach is an experiment, in which test participants (respondents) evaluated 48 different combinations of these answers, in short vignettes comprising 2–4 answers. The relation between the individual respondent’s ratings and the presence/absence of the 36 elements allow for a regression model, whose parameters show the contribution of the elements. The process creates a database of knowledge (what do people want), identifies complementary mind-sets, and then creates a personal viewpoint identifier (PVI) which assigns a new person to one of the mind-sets by a simpler set of six questions, and one of two possible answers. We discuss the potential of this simple, rapid, cost-effective, and powerful method to create a large library about the ‘mind of the consumer.’ Introduction A great deal of the popular press, especially on the Internet, involves the search for relationships, especially between those who would be called ‘potential partners.’ A quick look at ‘relationship dating apps’ in Google comes up with 366 MILLION ‘hits,’ ‘dating sites’ comes up with 704 MILLION hits. Asking for the ‘best‘dating apps’ produces a long list, some which are: Zoosk®, Match®, Elite®, Silver Singles®, and so forth. Moving over to the academic world, with Google Scholar, the repository of academic publications, we see 1.4 MILLION hits for ‘dating sites’ and 33,200 hits for ‘dating apps.’ Of course, we do not have to go to Google® or the scientific literature. We need only listen to the casual conversations around us to know how focused people are on their current partners, past partners, possible partners, and of course the world of non-partners considered from the viewpoint of casual relationships. To capitalize on this search for partners and this fascination, a variety of companies have been formed to match partners. The applications do not begin as of this writing, or even as of this century, but go back to the 1960’s with computer dating. Indeed, author Moskowitz has had personal experience with these programs as far back as 1966, when the computer was recognized as a device to ‘match profiles,’ The presumed superiority of on-line dating sites comes from claiming that an underlying algorithm is better at matching two people than the traditional methods, such as blind introduction by friends of relatives. Whether, in fact, the algorithm is better than judgment is not the topic of this study. Rather, it would appear that even if the algorithm were not as good as judgment, the dating site comes up with an assortment of prospective partners, making the pursuit of the ‘right partner’ more time-efficient [1] There are a variety of studies of the user of the dating site from different aspects of the person himself or herself [2–6] but these studies do not appear to focus on the dating site as a product to be created, like any other consumer product. Background We use the emerging science of Mind Genomics to understand how people respond to the features of an online dating ‘app.’ Mind Genomics is an emerging psychological science dealing with the experimental analysis of the ‘everyday,’ and, specifically, the criteria by which we make decisions [7,8] Mind Genomics is an ‘experimenting science,’ which means it bases its data on the results of experiments in which the respondents are given various combinations of messages, features, ideas, combined in assortments according to a plan, so-called experimental design [9] The objective is to estimate how every one of the different messages of features ‘drives’ a response, whether the response be interest (our first rating question), or selection of a feeling after reading the combination. The notion of experiment is important in Mind Genomics. A great deal of information about people, about desires in relationships, and Howard Moskowitz (2019) Electronic Aids to Emotional Relations: A Mind Genomics Development Cartography of a ‘Dating App’ Ageing Sci Ment Health Stud, Volume 3(4): 2–11, 2019 so forth, is obtained by direct questions, the survey procedure. The survey answers are tabulated, analyzed through statistics, perhaps correlated with each other and with outside information, until the answers emerge through a pattern. The survey may be attitudinal. Another approach, increasingly popular, observe behavior in a natural setting, such as search information, and establishes patterns from the search information. Mind Genomics is neither a survey of attitudes and practices, nor an observation of free ranging behavior in a choice situation. Rather, Mind Genomics is an experiment. Mind Genomics presents the ideas in combinations, vignettes, as noted above, deconstructs the response into the contribution of the individual components of the combination, the vignette, and then identifies a pattern from the data. The components, i.e., phrases, are ‘cognitively rich.’ They are statements about behavior which can stand alone and have meaning, the type of information to which we would ordinarily be subjected. It becomes easy to discover new ideas by simply looking at the ‘meaning’ of elements which perform well together in a specific subgroup. Putting the Mind Genomics approach into action with ‘Online Dating’ The study comes from the interest of the authors in the nature of relationships, and what people want from a technology which creates the introduction. The topic, while not seeming profound, is actually quite deep in terms of the engagement of people who ‘set up the study.’ That is, for many Mind Genomics studies the efforts to create the study are made, but there is little excitement at the beginning. The topics may be profound, but to the ordinary person, the non-expert, the topics are mundane, if not downright boring. In contrast, the group(s) working on this study and similar studies comprised mainly women, typically between the ages of 18 and 50, rather than men. The topic, the questions, the answers (elements), were generated by women. Step 1: Choose the topic and ask six questions which ‘tell a story.’ The topic as chosen was ‘online dating,’ specifically the features that a person would find interesting, and the emotions that would be experienced when using this online dating. Table 1 presents the six questions, and for each question, six answers. Combining Elements (Answers To The Questions) Into An Experimental Design One of the tenets of Mind Genomics is that people cannot easily tell the researcher ‘what is important’ or, in a more quantitative fashion, assign the level of importance of each aspect of a situation. We may believe we can, but our judgment of what we read, what we see, what we hear, feel, smell and taste is so rapid that it is likely that any post-hoc reporting of what was important for the judgment may be a rationalization, an intellectualization of an otherwise rapid, almost automatic process. Indeed, Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman suggests that most of our everyday decisions come from an automatic reaction to the situations which confront us, decisions that are controlled by so-called System 1. When we are asked to think in a rational way, even about what has been reacted to automatically, we invoke a slower system, so-called System 2 [10] Table 1. The six questions and the six answers to each question Question A: How does it work, and what does it do? A1 Easy login... with Facebook A2 Online dating made easy A3 Meet singles all around the world A4 Registration is fast and effortless A5 Fast efficient match making tools A6 Receive matches by e-mail, free Question B: How do numbers prove your point? B1 We are the best predictors of happy and long-lasting relationships B2 Has more dates, more relationships and more visits than any other online dating website B3 Over 1 million conversations per day, with 30,000 new singles everyday B4 Over 8,000 singles online now...making more connections everyday B5 Debbie from New York says, “I never thought I would use a dating website... but that is how I met my husband, Paul” B6 In the USA, 1 out of every couple found their spouse online Question C: How do you appeal to authority, and what kind of tag lines support your appeal? C1 Date smarter, not harder C2 One-of-a-kind questionnaire to dig deeper to uncover your attitudes, beliefs and personality C3 Find G-d’s match for you C4 A fun, unique way to meet people C5 Start finding all of the Mr. and Ms’ Rights you can handle C6 Our online dating site and dating service is modern, professional and userfriendly Question D: How do you ensure technical security? D1 Number one most trusted online dating website D2 100% invitation only...to better protect your privacy D3 Your information is stored in our database for historical and legal purposes only D4 Make yourself invisible with our one-of-a-kind privacy settings D5 For singles concerned with privacy, rest assured contact details are never published D6 Ranked in 2011 as McAfee’s most secure dating website Question E: What are ‘simple’ reason to believe E1 Oldest online dating website E2 Use our respectable matching system E3 Personal match maker working with you E4 Partnership with Match.com to increase our services to you E5 No other website offers relationship expertise of someone like Dr. Phil or professional match making services E6 Our website gives more meaning to ‘we are family’ than any other Question F: What are the fees? F1 Free personality test...matches you with more singles in your area F2 Online dating for the cost of a single date F3 Free trial for your first three months F4 No credit card required F5 Pay as you go...no co