Why Tinder Is So Evilly Satisfying

In terms of psychological conditioning, Tinder’s interface is perfectly constructed to encourage this rapid swiping. Since users don’t know which swipe will bring the “reward” of a match, Tinder uses a variable ratio reward schedule, which means that potential matches will be randomly dispersed. It’s the same reward system used in slot machines, video games and even during animal experiments where researchers train pigeons to continuously peck at a light on the wall.

In a study on the brains of drug addicts, researchers found that the expectation of the drug caused more release of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine than the actual drug itself. Similarly, for those who may be expecting the next swipe on Tinder to lead to reward, serial swiping can start to look and feel a lot like addiction. Not surprisingly, in 2015 Tinder began to limit the amount of daily right swipes to around 100 for users who don’t buy into their premium service, TinderPlus. And yes, there have already been reports of Tinder withdrawal for those who have tried to break up with their Tinder account.

So when it comes to finding a mate, Tinder’s rapid pace appeals to the simplest of our cognitive shortcuts: Are they nearby? Are they available? Are they attractive? If so, swipe right.

For short-term hookups, that may be good enough.

A gender disconnect

But is that really all Tinder is good for? Research has shown that men and women may have different motivations for using the app.

While women do frequently engage in short-term mating strategies, men repeatedly demonstrate more desire for short-term mating. In addition, studies suggest men are more likely to pursue romantic partners using direct and quick methods of approach and proposition, and they spend more time and energy looking for short-term mating opportunities than women. And since Tinder users often use the app when they’re alone and can reject or express interest without receiving any social backlash, males may be especially drawn to rapid swiping.

As a result, women and gay men receive more matches than heterosexual men. In one of the first quantitative studies conducted on Tinder, researchers created an equally attractive fake male and fake female Tinder profile and then “swiped right” on everyone who appeared in the app. They then recorded the number of swipe matches and messages each of the fake profiles received in return. While the female profile had a matching rate of 10.5 percent, the match rate for the male profile was a minuscule 0.6 percent, with most matches coming from gay or bisexual men.

But while women get more matches, they don’t necessarily enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet of the most desirable mates. Researchers from the fake-Tinder study found that women were three times more likely to send a message following a match than men, and their messages were nearly 10 times longer in length (122 characters compared to a paltry 12 for men, which is barely enough to squeak out “Hi, how are you?”).

As such, men send out more messages, to more potential partners, but tend to put in less effort or are less committed to their matches. Women may feel flattered by the frequency of matches, but they may also feel disappointed when trying to follow up and have deeper conversations.

Love in a hopeless place?

This doesn’t mean you can’t find love on Tinder. A 2017 qualitative study of motivations for using Tinder found that love was a more common motivation for using Tinder than casual sex. My own preliminary data (still subject to peer review) mirrors this finding. I distributed a survey to hundreds of Tinder users, online dating users, and those who don’t use any kind of dating technology and compared their experiences with deception, sex and romantic satisfaction.

While I found no statistical difference between Tinder users and the other two groups in regards to desired relationship length and likelihood to have sex on the first date, Tinder users did report experiencing frustration with their romantic encounters. Tinder users were more likely to report being deceived by romantic partners met through the app, and they had lower overall satisfaction with their last “first date” than the other two groups. In other words, motivations for using Tinder may not be as different as we thought, but the outcomes suggest the fun users have while swiping may not always translate to the same kind of enjoyable experiences in real-world settings.

Though love and sex have historically been relegated to the proverbial bedroom, data from matching systems like Tinder provide fruitful insight into human mating behavior. While some suggest Tinder has caused a “dating apocalypse,” it doesn’t appear to cause any new patterns of human sexual behavior we haven’t encountered before. In fact, it may just cause men and women to act in more gender-stereotypical ways, which could be thought of as a step backwards.

But if people become increasingly disinterested in conventional relationships and more comfortable with technology in their personal lives, the allure of swiping may be too evilly satisfying to quit.

Jeanette Purvis, Ph.D. Student in Psychology, University of Hawaii

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.