Competition Forum Vol. 9(2), 2011 481 Online .docx

Competition Forum Vol. 9(2), 2011
481
Online Dating Services – Chronology and Key Features
Comparison with Traditional Dating
Azad I. Ali, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Kustim Wibowo, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
ABSTRACT
Online dating services have become increasingly and widely
used for large mix of populations. Despite numerous stigmas
attached to the people who are seeking such dating services,
these kind of online dating services –it seems- are here to stay.
The number of people who are seeking these services is on the
rise, and the figure for businesses and web sites that open for

this purpose is increasing as well. But how did we get into this
state of web sites and how does it compare with old time
traditional dating. This paper gives perspectives on these kinds
of dating services and provides a comparisonto what used to
be practiced before (we call it here traditional dating services).
The paper starts by giving an introduction and a brief history
of online dating services. It then delves more into the different
categories of these services, their key features, and then it
tabulates these key features with what used to be offered in old
style traditional dating.
Keywords: Online dating services, Dating online, Tabulation of
online dating service, Categories of online dating service
INTRODUCTION
Dating online has emerged lately to be a popular tool for
meeting other people online and to establish a relationship (Orr,
2004). This kind of business has experienced substantial growth
in terms of the profits that they are generating, in terms of
the membership and the people who are using it, and also in
terms of the number of businesses that are offering these
services.

In terms of profits from online dating services, Mitchell (2009)
provides evidence of the extensive growth of this kind
business and states that online dating web sites constitute the
third most profitable kinds of business on the web. The list
below shows the most profitable of online business categories:
Top Online Paid Content Sites in 2008 by Category ($ in
millions)
Digital music $1,732
Video games $1,866
Dating $957
To show the increasing number of people who are using these
kinds of services, Gunter (2008) conducted a survey on some
30,000 online respondents in the UK. More than 3800 responded
to the survey questions about the extent of their use of
online dating services. The following numbers were extracted
from this survey:
- 29% said they used online dating services at least once
- 30% spent more than 200 British pounds on dating online
- 70% achieved at least one date
- 43% achieving at least one sexual relationship

- 9% found a marriage partner
482
The number of businesses that are providing such services is on
the rise also. Marsan (2008) estimated that there are about
800-plus online dating services. This number is expected to
increase and also new categories of this business are emerging.
But what drives this kind of growth and how do they compare in
their key features with traditional dating? This paper intends
to give answers to these questions. It first gives a chronology
and description of online dating services and then compares
their key features with similar features in traditional dating
methods.
The remainder of this paper is divided into four sections. First,
the paper gives a chronology and description of online
services in terms of history, categories, membership, and
reasons for growth. Second, a description of the key features in
terms of pros and cons is given in the next section. Third, key
features of online dating services are compared and tabulated

with traditional dating methods. Last, the paper presents a
summary and suggestion for future study.
ONLINE DATING SERVICES – CHRONOLOGY AND
DESCRIPTION
There are different factors that have contributed to the start and
growth of online dating services. Also, there are different
categories and procedures for membership of these services.
This section gives a chronology and description of online dating
services. It give a brief history, analyses the reasons that have
ontributed to their growth, it elaborates on the membership
process, and discusses the different categories of online dating
services.
Online Dating Services - A Brief History
Similar to the development of any service of this magnitude,
online dating services went through different development
steps, and various ideas and factors contributed to their
evolution and development. Brainz (2100) gave an overview of
the
history of online dating as explained in the following:

The Internet was being used for dating almost from day one.
Even before the Web itself was created, bulletin board
services and newsgroups played host to a variety of Internet
dating activities, many of them unintended. In addition
to newsgroups and forums created for posting of personal ads,
similar to what was going on in newspapers at the
time, locals were meeting in city-oriented rooms and people
with similar interests were meeting and becoming
attached in forums of similar interest.
Much of this was spurred on by the Internet service providers
themselves. Services such as Prodigy and America
Online offered chat rooms and forums for singles and heavily
advertised these features. Because of this, even before
the Web became widely used, the Internet had a robust, if
technically limited, dating culture.
The first major Internet dating Web site is widely held to be the
combination of kiss.com and match.com, which
were both registered by the same person in 1994 and 1995
respectively. Though there were other dating sites at the
time, most focused on international dating and had more in
common with "mail order bride" services than the dating
sites we know today.

However, from there, the market quickly exploded. By 1996
there were 16 dating Web sites listed in Yahoo!, which
was a directory at the time, and other powerhouses such as
Friendfinder.com and OneandOnly.com had already
started up.
In 1998, Internet dating got a cultural boost with the release of
the movie "You've Got Mail". The movie, which
reunited "Sleepless in Seattle's" Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan,
focused on two business rivals who hated each other in
person but fell in love over the Web. Though the movie didn't
focus on Internet dating directly, it put meeting
someone on the Web in a positive light and showcased the Web
as a tool for bringing people together, even those
who don't like each other in the physical world.
Riding on a wave of growing public acceptance, Match.com and
OneandOnly.com were acquired by Ticketmaster
Online-Citysearch for an undisclosed sum. This legitimacy
caused the major Internet players, including both
Yahoo! and AOL, to work on their personal/dating section.
During the dot-com boom of the late 90s and early
2000s, there were several other high-profile dating site
acquisitions

483
However, as with most budding Web businesses, the dot com
crash in 2001/2002 brought much of the frenzy to an
end and changed the online world. However, for dating sites,
the change came more from the launch of Friendster
and Myspace in 2002. With those sites, the idea of online
"social networking" was born and online dating was a
byproduct of that. People could meet potential boyfriends or
girlfriends on the Web without going to a site
dedicated to the cause. Social networking carried with it a much
smaller stigma, since it is also used by those not
seeking a partner at all.
But despite this wave of social networking, which included the
founding of Facebook in 2004, online dating has
continued to thrive. In 2007, Americans spent over $500 million
on online dating, making it the second highest
industry for "paid content" on the Web, behind pornography.

However, the current online dating climate is one of
balkanization. Currently the market has been segmented out to
an ever larger number of sites focused on an ever-smaller niche
audiences. Currently, there are sites for virtually
every city, every sexual orientation, every desired relationship,
every religion, every race and almost every hobby.
The end result is that, according to Online Dating Magazine,
nearly 20 million people visit at least one online dating
site every month and 120,000 marriages every year take place,
at least in part, due to online dating.
In 2002, Wired Magazine predicted that, "Twenty years from
now, the idea that someone looking for love won't
look for it online will be silly, akin to skipping the card catalog
to instead wander the stacks because 'the right books
are found only by accident.'"
The prediction does not seem to be that far off as it is exactly
where we are heading with both online dating and
social networking. (p. 1)
Online Dating Services - Categories

What started as a general online dating service conducted
through web sites has evolved into a number of categories and
classifications. Each category provides either different kinds of
services or offer the same service to different groups of
people depending on their religion, ethnic background, sexual
orientation, or other categories.
To begin with, online dating services are different from online
social services (Marsan, 2008). With online social services,
members create what is termed ―Avatars‖ and they can change
their appearance to present themselves in any way they desire.
All the activities in these online social services are conducted
online in virtual space. By joining these social services,
members can visit various virtual places like a museum in
France, a movie theater in Italy, and a school in England.
Members
can travel ―teleport‖ with other members to different parts of
the virtual world (Mahfouz, Philaretou, & Theocharous, 2008).
They can for example chat and take a walk in a park in London,
dine in a restaurant in Rome, or drive a car in Barcelona. It is
a virtual world and ―avatars‖ can do a lot of things in term of
socialization. Members can also purchase property in the virtual
world, design it to their liking, and invite others to visit them in
the virtual world.

The main purpose of online dating services is to match different
members based on the list of preferred characteristics that
they listed in their profiles. Online dating services charge
membership fees in general. The membership fee can be based
on
monthly enrollment or it can be based on finding matches. Some
online dating services provide these kinds of services for
free. But members who join these free online dating services
may expect a lot of ads popping on their screens as they browse
through these online services. Some other online services offer
free membership for some time (like a month) and expect to
charge afterward.
Online dating services can be based on the population it serves.
While most online dating services are not restricted to a
single kind of population, some serve special population based
on their religious beliefs, (like services for only Christians,
Jews, or Muslims). Nowadays, most religions have special
online dating services specific to them. Other special categories
include married people looking for extramarital affairs. While
most online dating services are for heterosexuals, there are
online dating services that are geared based on sexual
orientation like for gays or lesbians, as well.

484
The Process of Membership
The membership process in online dating services starts by
creating a user name and password. That is followed by creating
a
profile. The profile can be elaborate and can include questions
about hobbies, interests, photos, videos, and others. It can also
include description of the self, such as height, weight,
professional status, and others. The purpose of this profile is to
use it to
introduce onself to others for the purpose of finding partners.
Some may use a different name to protect their identity (Rao et
al., 2009).
At the same time, the profile includes characteristics of their
desired partnera. This also may be elaborate and include a wide
range of questions. Members can sometimes include ―do not
include‖ list in their desired profile as well. A tall person may

add to this list for example ―do not include below 5 ft.‖ from
the character of preferred partners. Similarly, the person can
include height, weight, education level, religion of their
preferred partners.
After providing the profile of their own and a desired partner
profile, the online service presents to the member a list of
profiles based on their own database of members. If a person
desires to pursue a relationship with anyone on the list, they can
do so by contacting them through the online service. This is
done to protect anonymity at the beginning. Once a
communication is established at the beginning, the couple can
further pursue a relationship on their own; they can give each
other their contact info and so on and meet or pursue other
means of communication (Gould, 2010).
If a match cannot be found, the member can go back and search
the individuals who are active in the database. The cycle
goes on again. If there is seemingly no match or if members can
revise their profiles or the profiles of their desired partners,
the process continues the same.
Reasons for Growth

There are different factors that contribute to this kind of service
being so widely used. Some of these factors are related to the
public perception of dating while others are more in connection
with the changes that a modern life style has brought up, and
a third group of factors relates to technological advancements
that made such communication online possible.
Orr (2004) recounted the days when dating and mating was
widely limited to school and college environments and noted
―leaving a college without an engagement ring was sometimes
thought worse than leaving without a degree‖. It has always
been the desire to meet and mate that drove people to create
environments that help with meeting and dating. It was the
college environment first that helped with meeting and dating
and then the working environment helped more. But changes in
life style rendered people to be more concerned about their
profession and their desire to have profession security first that
pushed dating to a later stage of their life. This further pushed
people to seek dating and mating in avenues other than
colleges, school, and work environments to places like singles
clubs and bars.
The singles clubs and bars are not without faults of their own.
First, going to these places means facing the kind of rejection
and stigma that many people do not like to face (Rosen et al.,

2007). Second, travelling to these places and the environment
that the social clubs provide make it difficult to continue these
events. Added to all of that, the competition for time that
modern life styles imposes on singles, make single bars less
attractive to some.
Technological advancements and the creation of these online
dating services came as a solution for some people who are
seeking relationship with others online. These online dating
services provided the kind of environment most suitable for
dating. Brainz (2011) noted the following about the
applicability of using the Internet for dating services:
Of course, the use of the Web to find romantic partners should
surprise no one. Perhaps more than any other
revolution in communication, the use of the Web for dating
makes sense. Not only does the Web allow us to
find people in our area, but it allows us to see, hear learn a
great deal about them. With images, audio and
databases of personal data, the Web is not just a new way to
meet others, but an incredibly efficient one. (p.1)
As technology advanced more and as the public perception of
online dating started slowly to change, more and more people
resorted to this kind of dating service in their quest to meet,

date, and mate, as well as seek other relationships. For the
purpose of this study and to clarify the extent of growth that
online dating services are experiencing, we visited the web
sitehttp://www.top10bestdatingsites.com to see the membership
in the top 10 list and other information. Figure 1 below
485
shows the membership in the top 3 list, while figure 2 shows the
remaining information for the remaining 7 of the top 10 list.
We found that there are about 80 million singles joining these
online dating services.
FIGURE 1
Top 3 Online Dating Web Sites
FIGURE 2
Listing 3 – 10 of Top Ten Online Dating Web Sites

486
ONLINE DATING SERVICES – KEY FEATURES
This section explains t the key features that stand for or against
joining online dating service as opposed to other forms of
dating services (we call it here traditional methods). The section
lists these features in terms of pros and cons that online
dating services provide.
Online Dating Services - Pros
There are different reasons that make online dating attractive to
some. To begin with, simplicity and convenience may top the
reasons that make people join these services. Further, the fear
of rejection or the the large numbers joining these sites and
thus potentially available to the member may push people to
seek dating online instead.
In terms of simplicity and convenience, most consider online

dating services to be simple and convenient to use. They do not
have to travel, make a reservation, or buy ticket in order to meet
people. With a few clicks, they can read profiles, compare
them, and then decide to meet or not to meet specific members.
Technology makes these kinds of web sites and their use a lot
easier, which enables a larger number of people to apply for
these online dating services. It is thought for professional
people
who are too busy and do not have time to make reservations, or
wait in line for admission, that online dating services are
considered to be simple and convenient.
The fear of rejection for some people may push them to use
online dating services as well. With online dating services, the
rejection is not felt as strongly. There can be ample
communication between the partners before an invitatiom for a
date or an
invitation to go out together. During the initial process, there is
ample time to learn about each other, learning about each
others likes and dislikes, and to ascertain from the profile the
appropriateness of a partner. In other words, there is sufficient
time to study whether the person will be rejected or not. The
person can learn from the profile or from the initial contact if
there is a good chance of accepting invitation or not, thus
minimizing the chances of rejection.

The increasing possibilities of available of partners may be
deemed one possible reason for joining online dating services.
It
seems the profile that the individual develops of himself/herself
as well for their desired partners may dictate how many
people he/she find suitable to meet and date. Further, if the
profile of the person is too restrictive and does not help in
finding
partners, the person can always reduce the limitations to open a
wider room for potential partners.
Online Dating Services – Cons
In addition to the pros that stand in favor of using online dating
services, there are factors that stand against using these
services for meeting, dating, and mating. These stems from the
possibility of providing false information in the profile of a
person. These factors can also relate to the fact that people who
use these services may be located in widely different
locations of the world. A third group of factors that limits the
use of these services is related to the cost of membership of
these services.
In terms of lying about profiles, a survey by one research

revealed that a good number of people lie about their profile--
especially about their age, their height, and their income. A
study that was conducted to find the most common
characteristics
that people lie about in their profile is their height. The same
study found that people lie also about their weight and their age
but to a less extent than their height. (Hancock, Toma, &
Ellison, 2007). The nature of the membership and the process by
which it works to find others helps in hiding these ―lies.‖ A
person can provide an older picture of himself/herself in the
profile and the potential partner will be up for a surprise when
they meet for the first time face-to-face. A person may expect
a very young person based on the photo but at the time of
meeting it turns that the person is much older than what he/she
presented in the photo of themselves in their profile (Whitty,
2008).
In terms of the location difficulty that some may face when
meeting others online, it is noted that online dating services are
not location specific. This may create a problem for meeting
partners once they decide to meet each other. An initial desire
to
meet may be complicated by the distance of travel, arrangement
for travel, obtaining visas, and other logistics that may make
future dating less desirable (Goodman and Churchill, 2007).

487
Cost may be a big issue for some. While online dating services
may provide different prices for their services, there is a
general understanding that it may cost a single person about
$250 per year for only an annual subscription and nothing else.
Some dating services may charge monthly fees or they may
charge based on the number of profiles that is provided to their
person. In other words, there is some kind of ―fixed‖ cost that
is attached to joining online dating services. The cost may
become more of an issue if the person goes for an extended
period without finding a partner. In this case, the person will pa
y
more for renewing membership. Adding to this, the person may
experience feelings of contempt for paying this much without
having successful dates. This may leave a bad taste in the
person‘s memory regarding this kind online dating service.
Other
costs may include establishing fast connections to the Internet
and so on.

ONLINE DATING SERVICE – A COMPARISON AND SHORT
TABULATION
This section tabulates and compares the features of online
dating services with those that are offered in traditional dating
service (like singles clubs or bars). We call these ―traditional
dating services‖ because they used to exist before online dating
services started (Rosen et al., 2007). Table 1 below provides
this kind of comparison between the two types of dating
services. The six categories in this table are extracted from the
previous section about the key features of online dating
services. In the third column, we list characteristics as we view
how they are provided in traditional online methods.
TABLE 1
Comparison of Key Features between Online Dating and
Traditional Dating Services
Feature Online Dating Service Traditional Dating Services
Convenience & simplicity Simple and convenient. Needs online
connection plus click and filling

online form
May require membership, travel to
different location and attend
different events
Fear of Rejection Not as strong. The fear of rejection
is not face-to-face, thus not felt as
strongly
May be strong especially if the
rejection happens in front of others
to make it worse
Abundance of people to meet The abundance is limited by the
profile that the person develops for
himself/herself and for their
potential partners
The abundance of people to meet is
restricted by the number of events,
meetings and other clubs that the
person attend

Lying about information Offer more room for lying on their
profile. They can hide it initially and
will not appear until the couple meet
Lying about weight, height and age
can be easily detected in meeting
face-to-face in traditional dating
Location far apart May become critical if meeting
people from far apart, like from
another city, state or country
Location less critical since they meet
face-to-face in clubs or other events
Cost There is a fixed cost of membership
plus any other costs that results from
meeting, dating and travelling
Cost is less critical. Usually no fixed
cost, but multiple entry cost for
attending events for the traditional
dating.

SUMMARY AND SUGGESTED FUTURE RESEARCH
This paper is about online dating services. The paper started by
explaining online dating services and their growth in terms of
profits, membership, and numbers of businesses that offer such
services. Then a chronology of online dating services in terms
of history, categories, and reasons for growth was discussed.
The focus was shifted then to the key features of online dating
services in terms of the factors that stand for using these
services (pros) or factors that stand against using these services
(cons). Last, the paper introduced a tabulation comparing online
dating services with traditional dating methods from the six
features listed in the pros and cons.
488
While working on this paper, we briefly mentioned online social
services as they are distinguished from online dating
services. Online social services are emerging to be strong in the

social environment. We deemed that a comparison of these
types of services (online dating service VS online social
services) to be beneficial. Thus, this contrast between the two
types
of online services will be a topic of research in our future
paper.
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"Gendering" the Self in Online Dating Discourse
Fullick, Melonie
Canadian Journal of Communication; 2013; 38, 4;

ABI/INFORM Global
pg. 545

©2010 EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
ORGANIZATION EMBO reports VOL 11 | NO 1 | 2010 2 5
featurefeature
A
s the saying goes, “love defies all
calculation”. Yet, this apparently
obvious assertion is challenged
by the intrusion of science into matters of
love, including the application of scientific
analysis to modern forms of courtship. An
increasing number of dating services boast
about their use of biological research and
genetic testing to better match prospective
partners. Yet, while research continues to

disentangle the complex factors that make
humans fall in love, the application of this
research remains dubious.
With the rise of the internet and pro-
found changes in contemporary lifestyles,
online dating has gained enormous popul-
arity among aspiring lovers of all ages. Long
working hours, increasing mobility and the
dissolution of traditional modes of socializa-
tion mean that people use chat rooms and
professional dating services to find partners.
Despite the current economic downturn, the
online dating industry continues to flourish.
With subscription prices between €20 and
€30 per month, romance-seekers are turning
away from the traditional—and often expen-
sive—strategies of meeting people casually
in bars and restaurants, and are instead opt-
ing for less spontaneous, but practical, cheap
online services that allow them to find a soul
mate from the comfort of their desk.
EasyDate.biz, one of the most popular
websites that match people according to
their hobbies, preferences and interests,
has increased annual profits 30-fold since
2006 and has made around £6 million in
revenues this year (Espinoza, 2009). Large
metropolitan cities boast the highest number
of active online dating accounts, with New
York totalling a greater number of sub-
scriptions on Match.com than any other
city in the USA—accounting for 8% of the
company’s active members (Sherman, 2009).

Most dating services match subscribers
based on metrics that include education
and professional background, personal
interests, hobbies, values, relationship skills
and life goals. These websites use a range of
personality tests and psychological assess-
ments to build lists of traits that individuals
seek in an ideal partner. Yet, in this modern
era of personalized genomes and DNA-
based crime fighting, the new generation of
online dating services has added one more
parameter: biology. “Love is no coincid-
ence”, they proclaim, promising to provide
longer-lasting matches based on the science
of attraction and romantic love.
I
ndeed, biological anthropologists
and neuroscientists are already dis-
secting the chemical ingredients of
love, from the basic sex drive to roman-
tic love, including the feeling of security
that we achieve when we are attached to
a specific mate for the long term (Bartels
& Zeki, 2000; 2004; Fisher et al, 2002;
Zeki, 2007). Such studies aim to unravel
both the genetic factors and the neural cir-
cuits that underlie love. So far, scientists
have revealed that the relevant regions
of the brain are mainly those involved in
motivational and reward systems and are
orchestrated by hormones and neuro-
transmitters (Aaron et al, 2005). Love has

accordingly been described as a chemical
phenomenon and compared with a state of
addiction (Meloy & Fisher, 2005).
“We fall in love with someone who has
a different chemical profile for dopamine,
serotonin, estrogen and testosterone that
complements our own,” explained Helen
Fisher, professor of anthropology at Rutgers
University (New York, NY, USA) and chief
scientific advisor to Chemistry.com. She cre-
ated a test for the website—used by about
eight million people to date—in which
questions are designed to establish a range
of basic information about brain and body
chemistry associated with specific aspects of
temperament and personality. For instance,
measuring the ratio between the length of
the index finger and the ring finger of the
right hand, which is a marker for testoster-
one levels in the prenatal brain, is assumed
to provide information about assertive,
verbal, musical or analytical capabilities
(Wilson, 1983). Other questions determine
a propensity to be curious or a tendency to
seek novel experiences, supposedly based
on dopamine levels in the brain.
Science-based dating services such as
ScientificMatch.com or GenePartner.com
promise lasting relationships on the basis of
genetic information and match people
based on differences between their imm-
une systems. This approach draws on a
study performed by Claus Wedekind and
colleagues at the University of Bern in

The science of online dating
Can the application of science to unravel the biological basis of
love complement the traditional,
romantic ideal of finding a soul mate?
Giovanni Frazzetto
…while research continues to
disentangle the complex factors
that make humans fall in love,
the application of this research
remains dubious
…the real question remains as
to whether the use of genetics
is proving more effective than
traditional matching methods
EMBO reports VOL 11 | NO 1 | 2010 ©2010 EUROPEAN
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ORGANIZATION2 6
science & society f e a t u r e
Switzerland, who asked female volunteers
to smell T-shirts that had been worn by men
for three consecutive days and to rank them
by attractiveness (Wedekind et al, 1995).
It turned out that the majority of the women
were attracted to men whose immune
systems differed most from their own
— fulfilling the maxim that ‘opposites attract’.
What accounted for the immune system dif-

ferences at the genetic level were
sequences in the genes encod-
ing the human leukocyte
antigen (HLA).
HLA
genes control
the activation of the
immune response and are cru-
cial for acquiring immunity; the greater
the variety in the HLA genes, the greater the
variety and success of the immune response.
From an evolutionary point of view, it makes
sense that individuals with opposite varieties
would attract each other as this would lead to
offspring with a broader range of HLA genes.
T
he customers of online dating services
seem to buy the ‘hard science’ sell.
“We are receiving requests from a lot
of customers who wish to know whether they
can test their genetic compatibility with other
subscribers in the same area where they live,”
commented Tamara Brown, chief scientific
officer at GenePartner.com, a company affili-
ated with the Swiss Institute for Behavioural
Genetics (Adliswil, Switzerland). “Right
now, the number of established couples will-
ing to know whether their compatibility is
confirmed genetically equals the number of

singles who ask us to match them with other
subscribers in our database.” Brown empha-
sised that the company uses biological
compatibility to complement social, psycho-
logical and intellectual information, which,
she said, will continue to play an important
role in the formation of lasting relationships.
Some of the claimed advantages of hav-
ing genetically compatible partners are a
more satisfying sex life, a higher fertility rate
and healthier children. Members of the gay
community have complained about their
exclusion from these benefits. However,
research is already underway to find specific
pheromone -induced brain responses in both
homosexual men and women (Berglund
et al, 2006; Savic et al, 2005).
Although sequencing DNA to find a
soul mate might sound like a ludicrous
application of genetics, investigating the
genetic compatibility of couples is already
routine practice for groups or populations
that have a high risk of specific severe genetic
diseases. For instance, genetic tests are
available in many Mediterranean
countries that have a high prevalence of
β-thalassaemia, a heritable disease of the
blood that affects the body’s ability to pro-
duce haemoglobin. To avoid having a child
afflicted with this disease, β-thalassaemia
carrier detection is mandatory for couples

in Iran and several other Arab countries and
is required by the religious authorities in
Cyprus (Zlotogora, 2009). The couples have
to be informed of the test results before their
marriage, but the choice is theirs of whether
or not to marry. Genetic screening is also
common among Ashkenazi Jews, who have
a higher risk of suffering from one of several
monogenetic diseases such as cystic fibro-
sis, Tay–Sachs or Bloom syndrome. These
screening programmes have reduced con-
siderably the number of babies affected by
these diseases (Kronn et al, 1998).
T
here is a kind of irony in online dating
in that courtship and romantic love are
profoundly physical experiences that
manifest with symptoms including sweaty
palms, reddened cheeks or tied tongues; but
internet dating, owing to its virtual nature, is
utterly disembodying. For Eva Illouz, prof-
essor of sociology and anthropology at the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, this
rearticulates the relationship between corpo-
reality and emotions: in the absence of the
body, emotions are supposed to flow freely
between authentic aspects of the core self
(Illouz, 2007). Knowledge of another person
therefore precedes the bodily attraction.
Websites such as ScientificMatch.com
or GenePartner.com would thus include a
‘physical’ factor by making genetic informa-
tion the starting point for finding a match.

Illouz pointed out that although online plat-
forms are supposed to give subscribers the
chance to highlight their own uniqueness,
their self-representation frequently follows
established canons of ‘conformity, standard-
ization and reification’. By contrast, genetic
information on biological compatibility is
not standardized and genuinely represents
an individual’s uniqueness.
The use of biological information seems
to reassure customers that they will find a
better match. Nevertheless, the real question
remains as to whether the use of genetics
is proving more effective than trad itional
matching methods. Indeed, there is a good
deal of skepticism concerning the reliability
of DNA-based dating services. For exam-
ple, there is some debate about the extent
to which HLA diversity is actually reflected
in a person’s scent, and therefore whether
such differences can genuinely be picked
up by the body’s olfactory bulbs.
“I think that matching people by person-
ality types or interests may be very useful.
However, I do not believe that any service
that claims to use genetic information, or
any estimation of neurochemistry (based
on person ality or genotype) has any basis
in reality,” argued Larry J. Young, a princi-
pal investigator in the Laboratory of Social
Neurobiology at Emory University (Atlanta,
GA, USA). Young, who investigates the genet-
ics and molecular mechanisms behind social

attachment, pointed out that although we
might be beginning to understand how some
genes contribute to social relationships, or
how certain neuropeptides or transmitters
are involved in the formation of relationships
Deciphering the genetics
and neurochemistry of
love might, therefore, cast a
disenchanting shadow over
some cultural practices
©2010 EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
ORGANIZATION EMBO reports VOL 11 | NO 1 | 2010 2 7
science & societyf e a t u r e
in rodents, “the situation is far, far too com-
plex to begin to think we can pick ‘the per-
fect match’ based on this information. These
companies are taking advantage of a public
who have been educated by the media.”
C
ourtship, seduction and romantic
love are complex phenomena that
involve many genes and a multitude
of social and cultural factors. Deciphering
the genetics and neurochemistry of love
might, therefore, cast a disenchanting
shadow over some cultural practices. In
this regard, a Shakespearean sonnet, or
other works of classical romance might

still prove more instructive and interesting
for anyone desirous to understand the rules
and excitement of courtship and love than
would taking a genetic test.
“You can know any single ingredient
in a piece of chocolate cake and still find it
delicious. You can know every single part of
an engine in a Bentley or a Ferrari, and still
feel the rush and joy of driving it. The same
applies to love,” Fisher said. “The more you
know about the brain circuitry of romantic
love, the more you can operate with innate
natural wisdom to make better decisions.”
She also suggested that finding the chemical
or genetic basis for why love sometimes fails
might well be more effective than spending
years trying to decipher intangible psycho-
analytical reasons. “The primordial ways by
which men and women flirt and fall in love
will just continue. A little bit of knowledge
about the relevant brain mechanisms just
refines this ancient process. So, I don’t think
that you can equate knowledge with lack of
magic,” Fisher said.
More serious concerns have been raised
about the possible misapplication of the
growing knowledge of emotional chemis-
try to manipulate the brain and enhance or
diminish emotions for others—in essence,
the creation of love potions. The idea is not
too far-fetched: experiments have shown
that a squirt of the hormone oxytocin
enhances trust in other people (Kosfeld et al,
2005), and internet drugs sellers are already

marketing products such as ‘Enhanced
Liquid Trust’, which claims to “boost the
dating and relationship area of your life”
(www.verolabs.com).
“I don’t think that these kinds of science-
based approaches are going to become
any more popular than the many other
approaches out there designed to find a
match. People will always be selling the
‘new’ way to find true love,” Young com-
mented. “Regarding the manipulation of
feelings with drugs, I am not sure how this
will turn out in the public in the long term.
We already try that by buying our prospec-
tive partners flowers, candy, romantic set-
tings, hugging and kissing, all of which
stimulate the chemistry of love, such as
dopamine or oxytocin.”
M
ore generally, the use of genetic
knowledge and technology to
predict intimate aspects of our
lives confirms the persistence of naive bio-
logical determinism among the public.
Indeed, it is the belief in the informative
value of such tests that evokes the simplistic
talk of a ‘gene for’ a given human trait. In
the case of finding the perfect mate, mod-
ern changes to contemporary lifestyles and
social connected ness, as well as the dif-
ficulty of actually finding the right partner,
mean that this simplistic view of the role of

genes is driving would-be lovers to services
that claim to offer science-based fixes.
In addition to the potentially disenchant-
ing effect of using science to prescribe
romance, emotional compatibility and lov-
ing relationships, the increasing tendency
to apply genetics to multiple areas of social
interaction and behaviour raises more gen-
eral issues about the growing encroach-
ment of genetics and neuroscience into
personal lives. The use of technologies
that read whole genomes and profile brain
activities in order to provide people with
an assessment of their chances of finding
love with a certain person might be a part
of what sociologist Sir Anthony Giddens at
the London School of Economics in the UK
has called the ‘colonisation’ of the future
(Giddens, 1991). Haunted by the inherent
uncertainties of life, people are drawn to
any service or person that promises to pre-
dict the future—from tarot cards to palm
readers, and even to genetic tests. Perhaps
it was therefore only a matter of time before
bio logy became entangled in attempting
to predict the budding of love and the out-
come of relationships. But love is ambig-
uous, unpredictable and hardly respectful of
Haunted by the inherent
uncertainties of life, people are
drawn to any service or person
that promises to predict
the future…

laws. As the Roman poet Horace said to one
of his lovers: “Don’t ask (it’s forbidden to
know) what final fate the gods have given
to me and you, Leuconoe, and don’t play
with Babylonian horoscopes.”
REFERENCES
Aaron A, Fisher H, Mashek DJ, Strong G, Li H,
Brown LL (2005) Reward, motivation, and
emotion systems associated with early-stage
intense romantic love. J Neurophysiol 94:
327–337
Bartels A, Zeki S (2000) The neural basis of romantic
love. Neuroreport 11: 3829–3834
Bartels A, Zeki S (2004) The neural correlates of
maternal and romantic love. Neuroimage 21:
1155–1166
Berglund H, Lindstrom P, Savic I (2006) Brain
response to putative pheromones in lesbian
women. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103: 8269–8274
Espinoza J (2009) Online dating sites flirt with
record growth. Forbes [online] 6 Jan
Fisher H, Aaron A, Mashek D, Li H, Brown LL (2002)
Defining the brain systems of lust, romantic
attraction, and attachment. Arch Sex Behav 31:
413–419
Giddens A (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Self
and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge,
UK: Polity

Illouz E (2007) Cold Intimacies. The Making of
Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge, UK: Polity
Kosfeld M, Heinrichs M, Zak PJ, Fischbacher U,
Fehr E (2005) Oxytocin increases trust in humans.
Nature 435: 673–676
Kronn D, Jansen V, Ostrer H (1998) Carrier screening
for cystic fibrosis, Gaucher disease, and Tay–Sachs
disease in the Ashkenazi Jewish population: the
first 1,000 cases at New York University Medical
Center, New York, NY. Arch Intern Med 158:
777–781
Meloy JR, Fisher H (2005) Some thoughts on the
neurobiology of stalking. J Forensic Sci 50:
1472–1480
Savic I, Berglund H, Lindstrom P (2005) Brain
response to putative pheromones in homosexual
men. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 7356–7361
Sherman L (2009) Best cities for singles 2009. Forbes
[online] 27 Jul
Wedekind C, Seebeck T, Bettens F, Paepke AJ (1995)
MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans.
Proc Biol Sci 260: 245–249
Wilson G (1983) Finger-length as an index of
assertiveness in women. Pers Individ Dif 4:
111–112
Zeki S (2007) The neurobiology of love. FEBS Lett
581: 2575–2579

Zlotogora J (2009) Population programs for the
detection of couples at risk for severe monogenic
genetic disease. Hum Genet 126: 247–253
Giovanni Frazzetto is at the BIOS Centre,
London School of Economics, London, UK.
EMBO reports (2010) 11, 25–27.
doi:10.1038/embor.2009.264
But love is ambiguous,
unpredictable and hardly
respectful of laws

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