The science of matchmaking has become a hot-button issue in the online dating world as singles turn to the Internet for romance.
Dating services used to match users based on basics like interests and demographics. Now, to stand out in a crowded market, services are showing off various matchmaking formulas.
eHarmony, of Pasadena, CA, has a matching algorithm that claims to predict with an 80% likelihood that its couples will end up in the top quartile of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, an index therapists and researchers often use to measure long-term relationship happiness. Online dating service Chemistry.com, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp of New York and a unit of Match.com, has claimed that the answers to questions can help scientifically predict whether couples are likely to have "relationship and dating chemistry."
Chemistry's matchmaking system was developed by Helen Fisher, an anthropologist and author who studies mate selection. It posits that individuals exhibit behavioral traits that correspond to four different neural systems and that these help determine whom people are attracted to. Dr. Fisher stresses that she doesn't believe in a perfect matchmaking formula. "So many factors go into romantic love," she says. "We are eavesdropping on Mother Nature."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2007
Dating services used to match users based on basics like interests and demographics. Now, to stand out in a crowded market, services are showing off various matchmaking formulas.
eHarmony, of Pasadena, CA, has a matching algorithm that claims to predict with an 80% likelihood that its couples will end up in the top quartile of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, an index therapists and researchers often use to measure long-term relationship happiness. Online dating service Chemistry.com, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp of New York and a unit of Match.com, has claimed that the answers to questions can help scientifically predict whether couples are likely to have "relationship and dating chemistry."
Chemistry's matchmaking system was developed by Helen Fisher, an anthropologist and author who studies mate selection. It posits that individuals exhibit behavioral traits that correspond to four different neural systems and that these help determine whom people are attracted to. Dr. Fisher stresses that she doesn't believe in a perfect matchmaking formula. "So many factors go into romantic love," she says. "We are eavesdropping on Mother Nature."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2007