The Mathematics of Beauty

[darkshark]

Since there's both a thread about traits you like, and don't like in a person...I thought it would be appropriate to share this article I ran across a few weeks ago that coincides with the statistical side of these things. It's written by a dating site, but if you think about it, it absolutely applies to the real world as well.

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/th...ics-of-beauty/

[Reincarnate]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

One big, obvious issue I see with the analysis is that a profile rating does not merely reflect one's physical appearance, but the entire profile itself. I also don't think that, when it comes to online dating, competition is as big of a factor as they claim because it's not an immediate threat and wouldn't change the rating/messaging done in the first place.

I think the "attractive vs. ugly" effect is just a form of differentiation. Even if some people find a girl to be ugly, she might be *exactly* the kind of girl for someone on the fringe (e.g. even if tattoos aren't popular in the mainstream, some people will absolutely love them). Some people want a rather distinct type of girl and so you'll see a lot of polarization depending on what those preferences are. It's like certain types of beer. Hop Devil is a beer most people hate, but it still comes at a premium because people who like that beer actually *love* it because it's exactly what they want and not in massive supplies.

This is ultimately the strategy my gf and I both used when we had met each other on a dating site (we've been going out for over a year, to date). Neither of us were afraid to have totally nerdy profiles that showed off our sarcastic senses of humor and geeky interests. While I didn't have women crawling all over me (I only went out on dates with 3-4 women before meeting my current gf), the "hits" were much more profound in magnitude.

I'd say girls who are "merely cute" don't get as much attention because they aren't portraying anything special in their profiles that you can't see/get elsewhere. It doesn't matter what niche you pander to -- being nondescript won't help. Most of the "cute" profiles I saw had equally-bland profiles and didn't give me much incentive to message them. It was the totally nerdy, fun girls with the full profiles I rated more favorably and actually messaged.

Overall though, interesting article!

[ScarletSky]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

That confused me a bit, but not a bad read.
My opinion, Megan Fox is unattractive. Yup, she ain't hot one bit.

[SocoNhydro420]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

Makes good sense to me. I was never a fan of statistics, but thats a good application.

[iironiic]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

My opinion, Megan Fox is unattractive. Yup, she ain't hot one bit.

This. And to say the very least, the article is really interesting. I wonder how they determine the weights of each rating.

[Reincarnate]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

This. And to say the very least, the article is really interesting. I wonder how they determine the weights of each rating.

Regression/least-squares/etc

[Phlegmatism]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

Cool article. This applies to a lot of things and it proves that averages aren't all that important in subjectivity. More to the story than flat statistics. The end seems to be a bit of a morale booster... just because a girl has a flaw, I don't think she should flaunt it, but I guess it's better than crying about it.

[darkshark]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

I agree with flaunting it. There are plenty of fat chicks on there that will purposely crop the picture to only include her face...but then you come across the girls who are fat but still look confident in themselves. I find that to be much more attractive than hiding it behind a bad crop-job.

There's also less disappointment if you choose to meet one of these people xD

[revolutionomega]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

I agree with flaunting it. There are plenty of fat chicks on there that will purposely crop the picture to only include her face...but then you come across the girls who are fat but still look confident in themselves. I find that to be much more attractive than hiding it behind a bad crop-job.

There's also less disappointment if you choose to meet one of these people xD

QFT. Gotta love "myspace angles".

[iironiic]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

Regression/least-squares/etc

Perhaps.

I agree with flaunting it. There are plenty of fat chicks on there that will purposely crop the picture to only include her face...but then you come across the girls who are fat but still look confident in themselves. I find that to be much more attractive than hiding it behind a bad crop-job.

There's also less disappointment if you choose to meet one of these people xD

And this.

[MarukuAntoni]

Re: The Mathematics of Beauty

I agree with flaunting it. There are plenty of fat chicks on there that will purposely crop the picture to only include her face...but then you come across the girls who are fat but still look confident in themselves. I find that to be much more attractive than hiding it behind a bad crop-job.

There's also less disappointment if you choose to meet one of these people xD

I had a friend like that. She mainly posted face pictures, but there was this one picture that included her whole body. She's a bit fat, and so she decided to photoshop out her love handles. Rather than them curving out, it curved in. Most of my friends noticed it, and it disappointed us.