Deciding on your perfect match is not always easy. Especially when you’re online dating you often feel like there’s more than one good match. It’s tempting to keep those options open, for fear of making the wrong decision. A Massachusets Instituts of Technology study has shown that this type of behaviour is not only typical of online dating – it’s also exhibited by people making decisions in an abstract computer game.

Each player had the possibility to earn money by clicking on the right doors. They could click the doors as they wished, but the clicks were limited to 100, so a quick decision paid off. Still, players kept returning to less profitable doors for fear of losing that option.

That sounds very abstract, but the initiator of the study draws the parallel to relationships. It makes sense to decide on a partner once you have found a great match. Instead of keeping your options open, you should then close all other doors. This makes you more satisfied with your choice and helps you move on to new decisions.

So, if you think you might have found your perfect match through online dating, make your decision and close those other doors!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under Relationship Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.