The game

Attraction research

• Mere exposure and proximity: why people date those they see oftenSeeing someone often tends to raise liking, and people befriend those nearby. What Zajonc and Festinger found, its limits, and what it means for you.
• What speed-dating research found about attractionSpeed-dating studies by Finkel, Eastwick and others compared what people say they want with who they liked. Findings, sample sizes and limits.
• Biases in first impressions, and how to be fair about themHow fast first impressions form, the halo effect, similarity and expectations, what studies show, and habits that keep you fair to others and to yourself.
• Can your "market value" be measured?Online SMV calculators promise one score. Here's what they claim, what research on attraction and mate preferences shows, and what you can measure.
• Communication differences in dating, without stereotypesDo men and women communicate differently? What the research finds, how large the gaps are, and how to ask instead of guess in any pairing.
• Evolutionary psychology and attraction: what the science supportsWhat Trivers and Buss proposed about attraction, what large studies found, and where researchers disagree. Group averages, not predictions about you.
• How attraction works: what's known and what isn'tProximity, familiarity, similarity, reciprocity and looks: what studies show for each, how strong the evidence is, and what research still can't predict.
• Personality types in dating: what the research saysMBTI is popular, but researchers prefer the Big Five. What each shows about dating, and why traits predict less about relationships than you'd expect.
• Social dynamics: how groups and status work, in plain termsSocial dynamics without the pickup jargon: what psychology says about status, prestige, dominance, group size and norms, and how it plays out at parties.
• Status and value in dating: what the words mean and what's realWhat status and value mean in psychology and in dating forums, what studies found on status and partner choice, and why a single score is shaky.
• What people look for in a partner: what research findsWhat large surveys and speed-dating studies find on partner preferences, why stated wishes and real attraction differ, and what the limits are.
• Why the bad boy pull fades: what the research saysDo people like bad boys? What studies on dominance, niceness and dark personality traits find about first impressions, dating choices and the long run.