Deception in Online Dating

Sara Blair, Marshall Cooper, Shannon Fahnestock

Gender Differences in Deception

Deception in online dating occurs in many forms but what role does gender play in this deception?  Men and women report negative feelings towards being deceived in online dating profiles yet many admit that they misrepresent themselves on their profiles. One possibility for why this deception occurs is due to the fact that because there are so many profiles with people looking to find love, the competition is viewed as greater and therefore people feel as though they need to lie in order to be considered as a potential mate (Whitty, M. T. 2008).  Due to this competition, physical appearance is a crucial part of online dating.  However studies have shown that 86% of online dating participants believe that others do not completely tell the truth when describing their physical appearance (Toma et al., 2008).  Now the question remains if gender plays a role in this type of deception, as well is in other areas of online dating deception.

Gender differences in online dating are centered on what each gender typically finds attractive.  Studies have also shown that the evolutionary theory holds true by suggesting that the characteristics that are viewed as most desirable by both genders deal with parental investment. When we consider this theory we see that men look for women who appear to be healthy and youthful enough to have children.  Also according to evolutionary theory, women look for men who are older than they are that have a high economic status.  Men with high economic statuses are viewed as someone who will achieve needed resources for survival, such as money (Alterovitz & Mendelsohn, 2009).

Women

As men age, they tend to look for women who are younger than they are. In one study men who were young adults dated women who were an average of 1.04 years younger, middle aged men dated women who were 4.98 years younger, and older men dated women an average of 9.99 years younger (Alterovitz & Mendelsohn, 2009). These results support the idea that women think that they need to look as young and beautiful as possible in order to attract a man. This pressure results in a tendency for women underestimate their weight on their dating profiles. 

In addition, in hopes of improving their physical attractiveness level, more women than men use a photograph for their online dating profile that tends to be inconsistent with their actual appearance. For women, the photograph used was more likely to not be current but instead be at least one year old (Whitty, M. T. 2008). Also, the photographs posted by women showed more discrepancies when compared to their actual appearance, implying that the photograph was possibly retouched, cropped, or edited in some way.  Women’s photographs are also more likely to be a glamour shot by a professional photographer (Hancock & Toma, 2009).  Even though women feel like they need to be beautiful and youthful and data shows they often lie about these characteristics, they did not report that this is acceptable (Toma et al., 2008).

Men

Women tend to desire men who have a high socioeconomic status; which are usually older men. Therefore, when it comes to online dating, men find it acceptable to lie about their status such as occupation, education, and relationship status (Toma et al., 2008).  Men were also more likely than women to lie about or at least misrepresent their interests on the profile (Whitty, M. T. 2008).  Evolutionary theory supports this common deception by suggesting that the characteristics that women view as desirable are the ones that can support them and their children.  Men with higher levels of education and that have a high occupational standing are viewed as better able to provide for his family (Geary, Vigil, & Byrd-Craven, 2009). Men also lie about characteristics potential mates would find attractive, such as their height.  Men often claimed in their profiles being taller than they actually were.  This could be due to the fact that many women prefer to date men that are taller than themselves (Toma et al., 2008).