Sensation-seeking and 'openness to experience' predict infidelity

I have another bout of insomnia, so I thought I'd share some articles I came across recently while researching data mining. Seems like data mining for dating is big business nowadays.

Online dating is tough. The chief scientist at Match.com quit recently because of overpromising and underdelivering. He admits, " No computer can accurately predict whom you should be with. The function of the math will make vastly more false predictions than accurate ones."

That said, Match.com recently paid $50 million for competing dating site OKCupid.com. True, OKCupid is seen to attract a younger, more tech savvy audience, but most business types believe Match paid all that money for OKC's data - basically, responses to all the questions answered by users and used by OKC to deliver potential matches.

OKC was started by 4 mathematicians from Harvard, and they admit to mining their user's data to provide recommendations for their OKTrends blog (helpful articles to help maximize your dating experience). However, as one independent researcher noted, "These are not necessarily statistically reliable findings." Maybe not, but they are entertaining.

Some gems of advice from OKTrends include:

• Ask about your potential soul-mate's taste in Wes Craven flicks, Albanian backpacking and life on the high seas.
• Subtract 2 inches from whatever height your potential date claims to be. Knock 20% off the reported salary too.
• Women, show off your décolletage, especially if you're not so young. (Just don't expect erudite discourse in return.)

Of course, the independent researchers counter:

• What you're measuring is what psychologists call "openness to experience," or the O Factor, says David McCord, a clinical psychologist and head of the psychology department at Western Carolina University. But here's the rub: If you're "high O" and drawn to similarly wild-and-crazy types but are seeking a successful long-term relationship, you may be asking for trouble. "Sensation-seeking and 'openness to experience' predict infidelity," says David M. Buss, psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating."
• For men, this makes sense. "Height suggests health, good genes and social dominance," McCord says. Rich is hot too. Notes Buss: "As I've shown in my study of 37 cultures, women universally value men with resources. Men deceive about their status and income in order to make themselves seem more desirable to women."
• But maybe button up if you're looking for something serious: To men, Buss says, revealing too much flesh may be a sign of promiscuity. "Promiscuity is something men don't mind at all in short-term mating but really don't like in long-term mating, for obvious evolutionary reasons."

Hmmm... the above all seems like common sense. Maybe I should get a PhD in psychology.

And finally, if you are out on a date, and you decide to go to the Alamo Drafthouse, be sure not to text during the movie: