Ugly Enough To Be Rather Attractive

It would seem like the whole notion of dating and messaging people on specifically-designed apps has always been an interest of mine...

Hence why I have stumbled across such a video on YouTube that shares the results of a rather intriguing study conducted by one of these types of sites (but has since been deleted).

Although I shall try to explain briefly the workings of the study, it'll be far better if you watched the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLNwa_hoz4w

Essentially, people who are observed as having a generally lower score of average 'attractiveness' (this was a 1-5 rating scale) created a polarized effect - in that they would also score as being (a fair amount) hotter for a statistically significant group of people.

Thus, if your face causes an amount of debate or controversy as to your supposed attractiveness, you're more like to have some people think you're REALLY attractive, or REALLY ugly. But if you're just a generic kinda cute, then they'll be fewer people trying to hook up with you. "Men who think you're hot will add to your message count, but men who think you're cute will subtract from your message count".

A point to take away from this, I thought: "If someone doesn't think you're hot, the next best thing for them to think is that you're ugly".

So...

What to make of the findings? Well, basically, it is thought that men may feel this way as they assume they do not have a lot of competition with women who may attract these varying (largely polarized) opinions. They may assume "Hmmm, maybe she's lonely, or maybe she is just waiting to find a guy who appreciates her..." and so they shoot their shot. Whereas, the generically attractive 'cute' girl may find herself without an abundance of dates or potential suitors based purely on the fact other guys are assuming she's already receiving a whole bunch of attention.

Anyway, a lot of this has come about because I have shared a fair amount recently about my dissertation with my colleagues (to be read here, if interested) to the point that I've found myself exploring even more of the realm of all that is online relationship and vaguely SWB - perhaps it's time to delve deeper into the different categories, or even an update to my previous research.

Of course, it's always worth  questioning the validity of these studies (y'know, like, attractiveness as a measure, for instance, but I find them pretty fun to read nevertheless)

Hope this has been enlightening.

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