Online daters aren't shy when it comes to stretching (or shrinking) the truth, say Cornell University researchers who found that both men and women fib about either their height or weight, and sometimes their age. Published in Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction, the study measured the actual difference between online profile information and reality. It revealed that men systematically overestimated their height, while women underestimated their weight. Somewhat surprisingly, age-related deception was minimal and did not differ by gender.
More than half (52.6 percent) the men in the study lied about their height, as did 39 percent of the women. Slightly more women lied about their weight (64.1 percent) than did men (60.5 percent). And when it came to age, 24.3 percent of the men were untruthful, compared with 13.1 percent of the women.
What constituted a lie? For height, the discrepancy had to be greater than half an inch; for weight, the deviation had to be greater than five pounds; and for age, there had to be a difference of a year. The results: A higher percentage of participants lied about their weight than either their height or age. In fact, for almost two-thirds of the participants, weight was incorrect by 5 pounds or more.
"Participants balanced the tension between appearing as attractive as possible, while also being perceived as honest," said study author Jeffrey Hancock. Interestingly, since the study was completed, online dating sites have changed their profiling. They now inquire about general body types rather than request information on a person's specific weight. But according to Hancock, the basic tension of trying to appear as attractive as possible without having a deception detected still applies.
Source: Cornell University
