Wednesday, December 29, 2010

You and your friends have very similar minds / FACEBOOK

You and your friends have very similar minds
"The word 'homophily' literally means 'love of the same'. It is the idea that people tend to associate with others similar to them"

That research of "Birds of a Feather Flock Together" is also consistent with the 3 milestone discoveries of the 2001 - 2010 decade for Theories of Romantic Relationships Development.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The 3 milestone discoveries of this decade.

The 2001 - 2010 decade will end soon.

Only 3 major discoveries can help to revolutionize the online dating industry.
Major online dating sites can not ignore them any more, or they will die instead.

I) Several studies showing contraceptive pills users make different mate choices, on average, compared to non-users.

I.1) "Human oestrus" Gangestad & Thornhill (2008)
"Only short-term but not long-term partner preferences tend to vary with the menstrual cycle"

I.2) "Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?" Alvergne & Lummaa (2009)
".. whereas normally cycling women express a preference for MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) dissimilarity in mates, pill users prefer odours of MHC-SIMILAR men, indicating that pill use might eliminate adaptive preferences for genetic dissimilarity."

I.3) "Personality and reproductive success in a high-fertility human population"  Alvergne, Jokelac & Lummaaa (2010)
The reproductive success of both men and women is influenced by our personality traits, according to the paper.
The study, found that women with higher levels of neuroticism and more extravert men, are likely to give birth to a larger number of children in societies with traditionally high birth rates.

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II) People often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life.
 [uncovered by Eastwick & Finkel (2008); Kurzban & Weeden (2007); Todd, Penke, Fasolo, & Lenton (2007)]

II.1) "Do People Know What They Want: A Similar or Complementary Partner?" Barelds & Dijkstra (2008)

II.2) Also reported in "What lies beneath: The linguistic traces of deception in online dating profiles." Toma & Hancock (2010)
That paper investigates whether deceptions in online dating profiles correlate with changes in the way daters write about themselves in the open-ended portion of the profile, and whether those changes are detectable by either computerized linguistic analyses or human judges.

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III) The strict personality similarity axis.

Latest Research in Theories of Romantic Relationships Development shows: compatibility is all about a high level on personality* similarity* between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
*personality measured with a normative test.
*similarity: there are different ways to calculate similarity, it depends on how mathematically is defined.

Also Personality Based Recommender Systems are the next generation of recommender systems because they perform FAR better than Behavioural ones (past actions and pattern of personal preferences)
That is the only way to improve recommender systems, to include the personality traits
of their users and they need to calculate personality similarity between them.

------------------------------------------
The entire Online Dating Industry for serious daters in 1st World Countries has:
* No Legislation.
* No Quality Norms.
* Low reliable background checks.

The entire Online Dating Industry for serious daters in 1st World Countries is a HOAX, performing as a Big Online Casino, with a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms (less than 10%),

There is a range convergence phenomenon between the 3 mains tools online dating sites offer now: Searching by your own, Recommendation Engines and Compatibility Matching Methods based on proprietary models or the Big5. Any member receives on average 3 to 4 prospective mates as selected / recommended / compatible for dating purposes per 1,000 members screened in the database.
They all 3 are performing the same for serious daters, with a high percentage of false positives, like gun machines firing flowers.

The Online Dating Industry needs innovations, but the innovations the Online Dating Industry needs will come from only one source: the latest discoveries in theories of romantic relationships development with commitment.

WorldWide, there are over 5,000 online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 (or similar test) to assess personality of its members.
Without offering the 16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry.

Paper about 2D:4D finger-length ratio

PAPER: "Short- and Long-Term Relationship Orientation and 2D:4D finger-length ratio."

Study 1 explored the relationships between 2D:4D finger length ratio and Relationship Orientation (Short- and Long-Term Relationship Orientation) in a sample of men. 


Study 2 extended Study 1, examining both sexes and further variables which might influence Short- and Long-Term Relationship Orientation. Earlier studies found different correlations between 2D:4D and the construct of interest, depending on the hand (left or right) and sex of the participants. Therefore, we report our correlations between 2D:4D and Short- and Long-Term Relationship Orientation for both hands separately.

(mistakes at Fig 1. and Fig 2., the right part of figures relates to left hand)

That paper does not assess personality of participants and does not take into account actual facts like:
* contraceptive pills / contraceptive hormonal treatments
* women who work and earn more money than men.

That paper also does not cite fresh, new & important studies showing contraceptive pills users make different mate choices, on average, compared to non-users.

1) "Human oestrus" Gangestad & Thornhill (2008)
"Only short-term but not long-term partner preferences tend to vary with the menstrual cycle"

2) "Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?" Alvergne & Lummaa (2009)
".. whereas normally cycling women express a preference for MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) dissimilarity in mates, pill users prefer odours of MHC-SIMILAR men, indicating that pill use might eliminate adaptive preferences for genetic dissimilarity."

3) "Personality and reproductive success in a high-fertility human population"  Alvergne, Jokelac & Lummaaa (2010)
The reproductive success of both men and women is influenced by our personality traits, according to the paper.
The study, found that women with higher levels of neuroticism and more extravert men, are likely to give birth to a larger number of children in societies with traditionally high birth rates.



Latest Research in Theories of Romantic Relationships Development shows: compatibility is all about a high level on personality* similarity* between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
*personality measured with a normative test.
*similarity: there are different ways to calculate similarity, it depends on how mathematically is defined.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Dannon's Activia, DanActive health claims draw USD21M fine.


Dannon in USA — part of the world's biggest yogurt maker Danone— agreed to pay a USD21 million fine and stop making exaggerated health claims for two popular Dannon products under a settlement with the federal government and attorneys general from 39 states on Wednesday 15th.

It follows Monday's USD2.1 million FTC settlement with kids-vitamin maker NBTY over unsupported health claims and because the products didn't have the amount of omega-3 claimed.

The government says Dannon will stop claiming that one daily serving of Activia yogurt relieves irregularity and that DanActive helps people avoid catching colds.

"These types of misleading claims are enough to give consumers indigestion," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz says. "Companies like Dannon shouldn't exaggerate the strength of scientific support."


Exactly the same should be applied for the Online Dating Industry: eHarmony, Chemistry, PerfectMatch, PlentyOfFishMarriagePredictor, MeeticAffinity, Parship, Be2, and others.

See the article:

"The horse named Jim in the Online Dating Industry"

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Chemistry, 6 years from its genesis.

Six long years ago, during December 2004, Dr. Helen Fisher was contacted by the people from Match to create Chemistry, the last innovation at Match, a compatibility matching method.

Up to now, she had published 2 posters and 1 paper.

Interesting to read them, although she CAN NOT prove her matching algorithm, used at Chemistry, can match prospective partners who will have more stable and satisfying relationships than couples matched by chance, astrological destiny, personal preferences, searching on one's own, or other technique as the control group in a peer_reviewed Scientific Paper.


POSTER "Four Primary Temperament Dimensions Based on Neurochemistry"

Personality is composed of two basic types of traits:
traits that an individual acquires, dimensions of character;
and
traits with biological underpinnings, dimensions of temperament (Cloninger 1987).

Temperament is mediated by many factors and can be only indirectly associated with neurochemical data.
Data were collected on all four scales on an Internet dating site (Chemistry), regularly between 2006-2007 until reliability was obtained in a United States sample of 39,913 anonymous men and women.
Participants completed demographic information, the Fisher-Rich-Island Neurochemical Questionnaire (FRI-NQ), and validity questions, with the goal of finding a romantic partner.  Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 88 years (M = 37.0; SD= 12.6); 56.4% were female (N = 22,521); 89.6% (N = 35,759) were seeking an opposite-sex partner; and 45.2% (N = 18,035) had children. 
The FRI-NQ measure was placed on an international dating site in 39 other countries, beginning in January 2008, and data to measure reliability were collected on 15,000 individuals in each of these translations: German, French, Spanish, English (Australian sample), and Swedish.  
All individuals expressed all four temperament dimensions; yet individuals varied in the degree to which they expressed each.
* Dopamine and Norepinephrine (DA/NE)
* Serotonin (5-HT)
* Testosterone (T)
* Estrogen and Oxytocin (E/OT)
As predicted, men and participants who reported their occupation as engineering scored higher on the proposed T scale, women and participants who indicated they were teachers scored higher on E/OT.  On the proposed 5HT scale, persons reporting a religious affiliation obtained the highest mean score, followed by persons describing themselves as 'spiritual but not religious', with the lowest scores obtained by those describing themselves as agnostics or atheists.  Persons describing their friends as 'Adventurous' tended to score higher on the proposed DA/NE scale.




POSTER "Four Primary Temperament Dimensions in the Process of Mate Choice"
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of temperament in the INITIAL attraction phase of mate choice.
Cross-cultural surveys, brain imaging studies, population and molecular genetics, comparative research and twin studies suggest that many traits of temperament are heritable, relatively stable across the life course and linked to specific gene pathways and/or hormone or neurotransmitter systems. 
Participants from the online website Chemistry who provided consent for inclusion in research were selected for this study. The final sample comprised 28,128 male (n=17,776) and female (n=10,352) heterosexual adults, who provided data on their selections for a first meeting with a potential romantic partner and who gave a non-negative (positive or blank) rating of their partner after returning from the first date were selected for the analysis.
A 56-item temperament measure, the Fisher-Rich-Island Neurochemical Questionnaire (FRI-NQ) was used to assess compatibility between participants.
Participants were anonymous adults who regularly used Chemistry dating site between 2006-2007 for the purpose of finding a romantic partner. Participants were selected based on their research consent and the release of their SELF-REPORTED demographic, dating, and personality data.  The final scales were VALIDATED on a sample of 39,913 participants from this dating site.
Similarity attracted among those predominantly expressive of the proposed  dopamine/norepinphrine and serotonin scales; while opposites attracted among those predominantly expressive of the proposed testosterone and estrogen/oxytocin scales. 
A study of long term married opposite-sex couples is currently underway to assess the durability of initial biological attraction.

Also Dr. Heidi Island from Pacific University is preparing the paper:
"Temperament as a Mechanism for Mate Choice: an hypothesis and pilot study."



PAPER "The Second to Fourth Digit Ratio: A Measure of Two Hormonally-based Temperament Dimensions"
"Individuals who reported a longer 4th finger relative to 2nd expressed high scores on the proposed testosterone scale; individuals who reported a longer 2nd finger relative to 4th or 2nd and 4th digits of equal length expressed high scores on the proposed estrogen/oxytocin scale."



 









---------------------------

Please remember personality = temperament + character
Latest Research in Theories of Romantic Relationships Development shows: compatibility is all about a high level on personality* similarity** between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
*Although no actual fresh paper uses the 16PF normative personality test (they mostly use different versions of the normative Big5 personality test instead) and linear or logistic multivariate regression equations to calculate similarity, they clearly show a connection between personality similarity and marital happiness / dyadic success (stability and satisfaction) for some persons.
**Similarity is a word that has different meanings for different persons or companies, it exactly depends on how mathematically is defined.



Also there is a similarity trilogy between genetic, mate choice and personality based recommender systems.
 

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine

Sometimes I read posts about a "fairly complex matching algorithm" for online dating
or
receive emails promoting "a sophisticated algorithm" and then I laugh!!!
Matching algorithms do not need to be complex or sophisticated, they need to be effective.
From Merriam-Webster Dictionay:
effective (Synonyms: effectual, efficacious, efficient, fruitful, operative, potent, productive):
a : producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect.

Those complex or sophisticated matching algorithms are like the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone used in the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, useless at all to ....... break sound barrier!!!

LIFEPROJECT METHOD is so simple!
It is only strict personality similarity. A Scramjet engine.
Read Innovations: to take the 16PF5 test 3 times.

As for a comparison, please see the following articles
The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone used in the Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone was one of the most powerful radial aircraft engines produced in the United States, useless at all to break sound barrier!

Jet Engine
and
the Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet)



The Meetic Group is slowly collapsing.

The Meetic Group is slowly collapsing.


In the same road as Be2

I am featured in the Latest Mobile Social Web 2.0 Forecasts, Challenges & Regulations 2010-2014 from Juniper Research, where I said "Perhaps by 2014, the mobile concept will be diluted (or disappear) for dating purposes with the majority of subscribers using netbooks/iPads with mobile broadband modems, or WiFi, rather than smartphones".

Monday, December 13, 2010

Quality Norms

Shaadi, the only one with ISO 9001:2008 Quality Norms for Customer Care and Support Functions




Why others like eHarmony - Match / Chemistry cannot certify?

Friday, December 10, 2010

Seasonality and Personality

Seasonality and Personality

If you had read

"Babies' biological clocks dramatically affected by birth light cycle" where it says

"Seasonality and Personality

The new study raises an intriguing but highly speculative possibility: Seasonal variations in the day/night cycle that individuals experience as their brains are developing may affect their personality."


I had read the brief communication "Perinatal photoperiod imprints the circadian clock" and the word "personality" is not mentioned there.



I had also contacted Dr. McMahon to ask him if he could quantify / estimate the % of the contribution of "Seasonality" to personality development in humans.

He had answered: "In answer to your inquiry - It is not possible to quantify any possible effect in humans. This is an idea that still must be tested."

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Online Dating Industry 2011, predictions

Main prediction for the Online Dating Industry 2011: The Online Dating Fatigue Phenomenon will get even worse during 2011.


PlentyOfFish had reached operating ceiling, now decaying. eVow can not take off

eHarmony USA losing traffic. You will see daters leaving in droves from old paid sites like Match, Chemistry, True, eHarmony, PerfectMatch, Be2, Parship, Meetic, etc.

MySpace is going to be the biggest dating application for fun, in ... Facebook!!!
MySpace NOW is a deliberately social dating site; for fun, for entertainment purposes, for instant gratification but nor for serious dating with commitment.
It is clearly a threat to all dating applications at Facebook and PlentyOfFish / OKCupid.



Mr. Greg Blatt named CEO of IAC? He is only a lawyer. He is not going to innovate in nothing.
My bet: He will continue to acquire rotten tech companies in order to show some kind of success, show achievements, show milestones during his tenure.

The entire Online Dating Industry for serious daters in 1st World Countries has:
* No Legislation.
* No Quality Norms.
* Low reliable background checks.

The entire Online Dating Industry
for serious daters in 1st World Countries is a HOAX, performing as a Big Online Casino, with a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms (less than 10%),

There is a range convergence phenomenon between the 3 mains tools online dating sites offer now: Searching by your own, Recommendation Engines and Compatibility Matching Methods based on proprietary models or the Big5. Any member receives on average 3 to 4 prospective mates as selected / recommended / compatible for dating purposes per 1,000 members screened in the database.
They all 3 are performing the same for serious daters, with a high percentage of false positives, like gun machines firing flowers.

The Online Dating Industry needs innovations, but the innovations the Online Dating Industry needs will come from only one source: the latest discoveries in theories of romantic relationships development with commitment.

WorldWide, there are over 5,000 online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 (or similar test) to assess personality of its members.
Without offering the 16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry.













MySpace a social dating site



MySpace NOW is a deliberately social dating site; for fun, for entertainment purposes, for instant gratification but nor for serious dating with commitment.
It is clearly a threat to all dating applications at Facebook and PlentyOfFish / OKCupid.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Match Japan / brief review

eHarmony plans to enter the Japanese market, Match has its Japanese version since 2002.
Match Japan is like Match Venus or Match Mars or Match in the Moon.
Very few Japanese are using Match (it also includes Chemistry as well, optative)
You can check traffic and rank from Alexa, it is not an independent domain name, it is the subdomain
www.JP.match.com

Match's Worldwide Traffic Rank = Japan 1,810, it means does not exist.
Where Visitors Go on Match = 2.5% of Site Traffic go to www.JP.match.com


Remember, Dec 27, 2006 interview at Online Personals Watch, the former CEO of Match had said:
".. a matchmaker for Match Platinum.... ..We'll also be piloting this in several international markets as well, specifically Japan and the UK. " but Match can never exploit the Japanese Market.

Match Japan is like a flag in the Moon.

Yahoo Babel Fish translates far better than Google Translate.
Check both translations from Japanese to English.



The homepage shows you a link to the last event, the Feb 9th 2010 Valentine Day!!!



The profiles are quite similar to the USA site, but the Japanese can add up to 7 certificates to increase reliability of their profiles.
like
Human proof: a copy of driver's license, health insurance, passports.
Address proof: inhabitant vote, invoices from different services.
Working proof: Employee proof
Earnings proof: The withholding certificate which can prove the earnings of the preceding year, the final return, either one of the certificates for paid taxes.
Graduation proof: Diploma or graduation certificate.
Celibacy proof: The celibacy certificate from certificate for marriage information service / marriage consultation trader.
Credit card proof: When charge service of match is purchased (purchase with credit card certification), credit card proof becomes effective.



My computer does not have the Japanese fonts installed, anyway I do not understand Japanese.



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

eHarmony Japan?



eHarmony Japan?

I used Google Translate to know it says the site will be launched soon.

The Big 5 is good for orientative purposes but not good enough for predictive purposes, it will "see" all Japanese women/men as all the same.

You can read:
"PATTERNS AND UNIVERSALS OF ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT ACROSS 62 CULTURAL REGIONS Are Models of Self and of Other Pancultural Constructs?"
JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 35 No. 4, July 2004 367-402

"Analyses of specific attachment styles revealed that secure romantic attachment was normative in 79% of cultures and that preoccupied romantic attachment was particularly prevalent in East Asian cultures."