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Have you fibbed in your online dating profile?
We often hear the myth about how the online dating world is full of liars, each trying to make themselves sound better than then really are. However, this certainly isn’t the case at all. According to a new survey by Kansas university, researchers have found that most people are honest, especially the confident ones.
The study also showed that both men and women were equal in terms of the few who did tell fibs. Men lied about sexual partners and women lied about their weight.
According to the study, members of the online dating site were no more or less likely to lie about themselves than people who find dates the old fashioned way through work, recreation or via friends.
If someone is confident and successful then they don’t need to make things up. It was only the people who were unhappy about their life choices who steered away from the truth.
5000 Internet daters were apparently interviewed for this research…..but that could have been a lie.
Eli Finkel, associate professor of social psychology at Northwestern University , said the study results came as little surprise:
“These findings lend empirical validation to my longstanding assumption that the typical person using modern dating approaches doesn’t differ much from the typical person using traditional dating approaches,” he said.
“There was probably a time when people using dating services were different in important ways from the general dating population,” added Finkel, “but that seems to be less and less true as modern dating approaches become increasingly popular. Online daters, speed-daters, and the like seem to be just like the rest of us in most ways. That this intuition extends to truth-telling among online daters is important validation of that general point.”
From our own experience, the biggest lie people seem to tell is about age. It can seem easy to shave a year or two off in the hope of netting someone more useful. Just remember that one day you’ll have to admit the truth and it could instantly ruin any trust you’ve built. It’s better to be honest from the outset so you don’t need to keep worrying about being found out.
James Preece – The Dating Guru
www.singlesolution.com
