This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Online dating involves a lot of snap judgments. So when it comes to attracting people you've never met, there's a lot to think about. Starting with the profile photos, which signal what kind of person you are - and what kind of relationship you're looking for.
Recently, marketing researchers Seunga Venus Jin of Emerson College and Cassie Martin of Boston College studied how these preconceived notions might differ when daters represent themselves as "traditional/uptight" or as "open/free-spirited."
For this study, they made two fake dating profiles for a single heterosexual woman and a heterosexual man: one with little skin showing, and listing interests that could be done alone and might communicate seriousness (skiing, hiking, playing guitar, reading); the second profile showed the same person, wearing a bathing suit and mentioning interests that were more social (partying, electronic music, hanging out with friends).
Study participants perceived daters with more traditional profiles to be more trustworthy, agreeable and conscientious than those with more open or free-spirited profiles.
What do a person's photos say about their relationship goals? "Traditional/uptight profiles might imply serious, long-term goals, while open/free-spirited profiles imply casual, short-term goals." Of course there's only so much you can infer from a photograph, but singles will be "more attracted to daters with a lifestyle similar to their own," the study found.
The researchers note that their sample of 65 undergraduate students at a major U.S. university "may not be generalizable to the overall population."
But the findings are still something to consider when choosing photos, no matter where you fall on the "traditional/uptight" and "open/free-spirited" continuum.