Rationally Speaking #89 - Online Dating

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2013

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Looking for love online? You're not alone -- one in five new relationships nowadays begin on a dating site. But just how scientific are the "matching algorithms" sites like eHarmony and OKCupid use? What does cognitive psychology tell us about how this new choice context affects our happiness? Massimo and Julia turn an analytical eye on the math and science of online dating, in this episode of Rationally Speaking.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Rationally speaking is a presentation of New York City skeptics dedicated to promoting critical thinking, skeptical inquiry, and science education.
0:22.6	For more information, please visit us at NYCCEceptics.org.
0:35.6	Welcome to rationally speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense. I'm your host, Massimo Pelucyan. With me as always is my co-host, Julia Gilev. Julia, what are we going to talk about today? Massimo, today are topics a fun one. We are going to be discussing the world of online dating. Ooh, online sex?
0:55.0	No.
0:55.2	No.
0:55.9	No.
0:56.1	Online dating.
0:57.1	Oh, man.
0:57.7	Last time you thought our naturalism episode was about people naked on the beach.
1:01.4	And this time you think our perfectly innocent episode on dating websites is about sex.
1:05.8	No.
1:06.6	Right.
1:06.9	Online dating.
1:07.8	Okay.
1:08.3	Fine.
1:08.8	We'll talk about dating.
1:09.9	So what about online dating?
1:10.8	You don't sound so grumpy.
1:12.8	Yeah, so we're going to talk about sort of the booming business of online dating and matchmaking websites and what researchers have learned about how well these websites actually work, like how well they end up matching people with, you know, others who are good matches for them.
1:31.8	And, you know, what kinds of strategies people have learned for using these websites effectively, how to use the algorithms and tweak your profile to actually find that soulmate or that, you know, one-night
1:45.4	standmate as the case may be.
1:46.9	Well, it worked for me.
	...

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