4 ms·

Interestingly the SECOND BEST looking woman got far more messages than the best looking woman, both in US and UK. I wondered why.

jacques_chester 14y ago
Learned helplessness. Most men stop contacting the most attractive female profiles because they never hear back.
- BadassFractal 14y ago
  It's also because most men believe that they have no chance with a 9 or a 10. Why bother messaging someone who they believe is vastly out of their league? Some men are great at hacking the system and ignoring a woman's physical attractiveness, thus scoring really desirable mates. Others instead implicitly follow the rules of thumb that psychology discovered a while ago, according to which an attractive person is much more likely to be with another attractive person.
- SideburnsOfDoom 14y ago
  Most men stop contacting the most attractive female profiles because they never hear back, and the effort required to make a message that stands out - i.e. is original and interesting - does not justify the very low chance that there will be any response.
- planetguy 14y ago
  This might be the case sometimes; in this case the best-looking one isn't in the unattainably-beautiful class though. Her nose is kinda big. In this case I think it just indicates that the initial judges did a poor job of judging who the most attractive one was. Or perhaps that the black and white picture used by the most attractive woman is a turn-off. As for the "most attractive" man, he has a nice smile and nice eyes but his baldness and undefinable ethnicity might be a turnoff for the average woman.
leeny 14y ago
higher perceived odds of success by the men, perhaps. there's an okcupid blog post about this very observation: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-mathematics-of-beauty/ http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-mathematics-of-beauty/
bermanoid 14y ago
Since they were both assigned to the same city, it's quite possible that more people use OkCupid in that city. I have no idea why the author didn't realize what a terrible idea splitting them up across cities was...
- batterseapower 14y ago
  This explanation is unlikely because the same pattern was repeated in the results from the UK.
cdeonier 14y ago
I think the judges probably voted by looking at actual pictures, where most male selection probably happens at the thumbnail level. I'd argue the second best has a thumbnail that would garner more attention, from color if nothing else.
3pt14159 14y ago
Seriously? I thought she was far more attractive. Actually, both "second best" pictures I thought were more attractive.

jacques_chester 14y ago

Learned helplessness. Most men stop contacting the most attractive female profiles because they never hear back.

BadassFractal 14y ago
It's also because most men believe that they have no chance with a 9 or a 10. Why bother messaging someone who they believe is vastly out of their league? Some men are great at hacking the system and ignoring a woman's physical attractiveness, thus scoring really desirable mates. Others instead implicitly follow the rules of thumb that psychology discovered a while ago, according to which an attractive person is much more likely to be with another attractive person.
SideburnsOfDoom 14y ago
Most men stop contacting the most attractive female profiles because they never hear back, and the effort required to make a message that stands out - i.e. is original and interesting - does not justify the very low chance that there will be any response.
planetguy 14y ago
This might be the case sometimes; in this case the best-looking one isn't in the unattainably-beautiful class though. Her nose is kinda big. In this case I think it just indicates that the initial judges did a poor job of judging who the most attractive one was. Or perhaps that the black and white picture used by the most attractive woman is a turn-off. As for the "most attractive" man, he has a nice smile and nice eyes but his baldness and undefinable ethnicity might be a turnoff for the average woman.

leeny 14y ago

higher perceived odds of success by the men, perhaps. there's an okcupid blog post about this very observation: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-mathematics-of-beauty/ http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-mathematics-of-beauty/

bermanoid 14y ago

Since they were both assigned to the same city, it's quite possible that more people use OkCupid in that city. I have no idea why the author didn't realize what a terrible idea splitting them up across cities was...

batterseapower 14y ago
This explanation is unlikely because the same pattern was repeated in the results from the UK.

cdeonier 14y ago

I think the judges probably voted by looking at actual pictures, where most male selection probably happens at the thumbnail level. I'd argue the second best has a thumbnail that would garner more attention, from color if nothing else.

3pt14159 14y ago

Seriously? I thought she was far more attractive. Actually, both "second best" pictures I thought were more attractive.