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5 ways to make your dating profile perfect, based on science

Put your shirt on and get a dog
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Over three million Australians use dating apps, so standing out is an absolute must. But how do you differentiate yourself from all the other men-with-fish or women-on-Bali-holidays?

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Well, you could turn to science.

With online dating so prolific these days it’s not surprising there have been countless studies conducted in how to stand out. 

We’ve collated the five best science-backed tips to make your profile more attractive.

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Chris Evans
If it can work for Chris it can work for us, right? (Credit: Twitter)

Tip 1: Pose with a small dog

A 2022 study out of Spain found women felt more positively about photos of men when there was a dog in the image. Specifically a small dog.

Scientists asked a group of 300 female college students to compare pictures of a man or woman walking either with or without a dog. The respondents were then asked to rate how intimidating they thought the people in the picture were. 

Participants felt most at ease with the images of men with small dogs over images of men with medium sized dogs.

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Conclusion: get a dog for your profile pictures but be wary of ‘dogfishing’.

Jessica and Them
Give love a chance (Credit: Instagram)

Tip 2: Don’t be afraid of the ‘L’ word

A PlentyofFish analysis from 2014 found profiles that used the word “love” in their bio were more likely to find a partner. 

Using words that suggested commitment or interest in a long term relationship also had more success. These words included “heart,” “children,” “romantic” and “relationship”.

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It boils down to being upfront in your profile. If you want a long term relationship using direct language like “I’m looking for love” is going to work in your favour because other people looking for love are going to click on your profile. 

Same goes for if you’re after something casual.

Conclusion: be honest in your profile and don’t be afraid to tell people what you’re looking for.

Gather your hot friends
Gather your hot friends (Credit: Getty)
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Tip 3: Pick your photograph order

Apologies for the psychology lesson but it’s necessary: humans process information sequentially which means the previous piece of information often impacts the next piece of information. 

This is useful to know when you consider how people scroll through dating profiles, especially when they’re flicking through a profile’s photos.

In 2016, a study found humans are “more likely to rate a face as attractive when the preceding face was attractive than when it was unattractive.”

If you want to game this idea for your own benefit you could, theoretically, stack your photos with hot friends that make individual shots of you look better. It also means keeping your less attractive images to the back.

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Conclusion: take care in how you order your images and consider how preceding images could make you look more attractive.

Messaging through excel
Always check you’re using the correct application (Credit: Supplied)

Tip 4: Check your work

According to science, being able to spell is hot.

A 2019 paper found a correlation between language errors and attractiveness. Profiles with errors were seen as less desirable. 

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Surprisingly, this was also true for the use of informal abbreviations (e.g m8) and ‘expressive punctuation’ (e.g hello!!!).

Conclusion: check your profiles for spellos and don’t use too many abbreviations (like ‘spello’).

Antoni Porowski
Keep your shirt on… even if you’re Antoni. (Credit: Instagram)

Tip 5: Keep your clothes on

This is not an attempt to body shame anyone but dudes, stop posting shirtless selfies, the science says so.

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In 2022 scientists examined how people rated attractiveness and competency in people based purely on images. 

Women judged topless men to be lower in social appeal and less competent. While men also thought shirtless men were lower in social appeal, but not necessarily less competent.

Conclusion: put your shirt back on and remove any topless photos from your profile. 

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