Imagine being in a relationship with somebody, and then being told by a machine that you two are not a perfect match and need to break up immediately. How would you react? Is science really better than you are at predicting who you are most compatible with? This is what happens on MTV’s show Are You The One?
Let me start off by saying that I don’t normally tune in to watch shows on MTV, and am even less likely to watch a reality show on MTV. However, when I saw the first trailer for their new show Are You The One? back in January, I couldn’t resist. I was absolutely hooked after watching just one episode of this reality game show drama.
The reality show is currently on its second season, and while a couple new twists have been introduced, the same basic premise remains: 10 women and 10 men have undergone an intensive matchmaking process, involving psychologists, compatibility testing, and speaking with friends, family and even exes. The singles arrive on a luxurious island in Puerto Rico (last season was in Hawaii) and are told that their “perfect match” is also on the island, and that their mission is to find that person. Each week, the cast participates in a matchmaking ceremony where each person pairs up with whom they think is their perfect match. After everybody matches up, beams of light determine how many of the matches are correct, but do not reveal which matches are correct.
The cast has 10 weeks to find their perfect matches. If they are successfully able to get 10/10 beams of light by the last week, they will all split one million dollars.
So when Brandon and Christina immediately fell for each other, they figured there was no way they weren’t a perfect match. On the second week, they enter into the truth booth, the only the only surefire way of knowing whether a couple is a perfect match. However, the machine tells them “NO MATCH.”
Devastated and still completely crazy about each other, Brandon and Christina have struggled to stay away from each other during the following weeks. However, they receive constant pressure from the rest of the cast to break it off completely, because staying together is hurting their chances of finding their real perfect matches, and ultimately jeopardizing the whole team’s chance at one million dollars.
It has been five weeks since the premier of the second season, and the cast has only achieved two confirmed perfect matches. “If your perfect match was standing right in front of you, would you even know it?” According to Are You The One? the answer is an overwhelming no.
Yes, MTV’s show can be criticized as a melodramatic, overproduced and over-sexualized representation of the dynamics of love and relationships. Yes, this show is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. However, the show does rise questions about the overall effectiveness’ of compatibility testing.
How much faith should we be putting into compatibility testing? Can science really predict who our “perfect match” is, or is it sometimes best to just go with your heart? I did some research on the science and algorithms of compatibility testing, as some statistics on the success rates, in order to explore these questions.
Behavioral analysis plays a large role in determining the Are You The One? perfect matches.
While the exact formulas for determining the matches on the show are not revealed, one of the show’s experts, Erin Foster, a licensed marriage and family therapist has said, “The producers approached me about using behavioral analysis, which is a scientifically based assessment used to measure degrees of compatibility in terms of behavior and motivational style, on measuring degrees of compatibility between people in terms how they do things and why they do them (Glamour).” A team of psychologists and dating experts analyze the cast with this method through use of extensive compatibility tests, face-to-face interviews, and interviews with family, friends, and exes.
Online dating websites such as “eHarmony” use compatibility testing to match singles.
Unlike other dating websites and apps such as Tinder, singles signing up to eHarmony and similar matchmaking websites are not allowed to freely interact with whomever they want, but are administered compatibility tests and then shown their matches.
“From Jan. 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, an average of 542 people were married every day in the United States because of the online matchmaker.” (eHarmony.com)
eHarmony was also credited for over 148,311 marriages between those years, which is equivalent to 4.77% of all marriages in the United States.
eHarmony’s matchmaking algorithms are based upon the findings of psychologist Galen Buckwalter, and center around 29 core traits.
Buckwalter gave hundreds of personality tests to 5,000 married couples and then used the dyadic adjustment scale to find correlations between the answers and marital happiness. He measured the couples based on 29 core personality traits and values. (Tierney)
Buckwalter found that couples with more similar personality traits tended to have higher marital happiness than those with different traits.
It is a common saying that “opposites attract.” But according to Buckwalter, similarities are what last in the long run. He said, “It’s fairly common that differences can initially be appealing, but they’re not so cute after two years. If you have someone who’s Type A and real hard charging, put them with someone else like that. It’s just much easier for people to relate if they don’t have to negotiate all these differences (Buckwalter).”
Other psychologists argue that compatibility tests cannot accurately find perfect matches, and that matchmaking websites often cause people to overlook potential matches.
A common argument is that these computability tests rely upon self-report data, in which oftentimes people are not 100% honest in their answers, whether intentionally or not. Some psychologists argue that these tests are not effective because when asked to describe their ideal match, people often fail at predicting what they really want. Others argue that compatibility tests are not effective because they do not predict physical attraction (Business Week).
Matchmaking websites are very secretive about their algorithms, making it difficult to analyze their effectiveness.
Because competition is high between different matchmaking websites, they are very reluctant to give out extensive information about their matchmaking procedures. Therefore, it is very difficult for psychologists to really analyze their effectiveness.
Overall, the jury is still out there over how accurate compatibility tests are in find perfect matches. Out of the 10 perfect matches from last season’s Are You The One?, only one of the couples is still together. However, that couple is recently married and are expecting their first child soon.
So hey, at least ‘science’ worked for this couple!
Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Sources: Glamour, eHarmony, NYTimes, BusinessWeek