Friday, June 3, 2011

OKCupid: low effective level

Why OKCupid has a low effective level in matching successful couples:
OKCupid welcome message says:
"Welcome!
Hi, I'm Chris Coyne, one of the creators of OkCupid. Welcome to the site. I think you'll find smarter, better people here than anywhere else.
.......
For best results, show off your personality.
.......
Finally, why we're getting famous - OkCupid is powered only by YOUR personality."


When Mr. Coyne and OKCupid use the word "personality", it means your likes & dislikes to construct an OKCupid's proprietary personality model, Not personality traits measured / assessed with a normative test like the Big5 or the 16PF5 or the 15FQ+.
OKCupid also explains "About personality traits: Personality traits are based on answers to Match Questions as compared to the OkCupid population. The length of a bar represents how strong that trait is and how confident Staff Robot is in the analysis." (That is EXACTLY the same mistake made by PlentyOfFish Chemistry Predictor)





OKCupid ask you questions about you in 3 parts: "First, you'll give your own answer. Second, your ideal match's answer. And finally, you'll tell us how important (if at all) that question is to you. In this way OkCupid lets you - and only you - control how matches are sorted. The more you answer, the better your matches."
That is a GREAT MISTAKE because 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)].





Dijkstra and Barelds from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands had written "The present study's results, as well as the results found in previous studies (e.g., Eastwick & Finkel, 2008), may be used to EDUCATE people, especially singles, about what really matters in long-term relationships, for instance, similarity in personality*, instead of complementarity."
("Perceptions of Ideal and Former Partners' Personality and Similarity")
*personality measured with a normative test.

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.


The 16PF5 test is available in
- English for the United States and the Norm for the United States (sample of individuals with the same demographic characteristics of the United States).
- English for Canada and the Norm for Canada (sample of individuals with the same demographic characteristics of Canada)
- English for the United Kingdom and the Norm for the United Kingdom (sample of individuals with the same demographic characteristics of the United Kingdom).
- English for Australia and the Norm for Australia (sample of individuals with the same demographic characteristics of Australia).
- French for France and the Norm for France.
- German for Germany and the Norm for Germany.
- Spanish for Spain and the Norm for Spain.
- Italian for Italy and the Norm for Italy.
and many more "With over 60 years of research and application behind it, the 16PF5 has become internationally well known and respected, with over 20 different translated versions."

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