Published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, psychologists in the Netherlands found that the more dating profiles one is exposed, to the more they are likely to reject them whereby online dating creating a worsening rejection mindset the more someone uses them.

The study included 3 separate sub-studies. Users were single, heterosexual, and between the ages of 18 to 30 years old.

The first study included 315 subjects shown between 45 to 90 photos of potential partners and were to either like or reject them.

The second study of another 158 individuals, subjects went through the same procedure as the first but also included the additional message “The people ion the pictures also rate your picture, and you can really get a ‘match’”.

The third sub-study had 305 participants and were shown 50 pictures of potential partners, which were divided into blocks of 10. The subjects had to complete a questionnaire about their experience between each block.

The authors found an increase rejection rate across all three studies as the studies progressed. Overall, from the first to the last potential partner, there was a 27% decrease in acceptance. The third study provided the possible reason for this observation; participants reported increased dissatisfaction with pictures and increased pessimism in getting matched.

“The continued access to an almost limitless pool of potential partners when online dating has negative side effects: it makes people more pessimistic and rejecting,” author, Tila Pronk, told PsyPost. “We coined this phenomenon the ‘rejection mindset.’ The consequence of the rejection mindset is that over time, people ‘close off’ from mating opportunities when online dating.”

Get off the dating apps and dating sites. They are a risk to your mental health where they will ultimately become a bigger waste of time than they are worth.

T Pronk et al. A rejection mind-set: choice overload in online dating. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619866189