Dating & Technology: More On The Scientific Approach To Finding The One

From genetic testing that maps a person's DNA profile to advanced facial recognition software that pairs similarly-featured partners, science is playing an increasingly significant role in online dating. Sites like GenePartner.com and FindYourFaceMate.com are promising to match members with compatible long-term partners based on the science of attraction and romantic love, and while matchmaking services that sound like they belong in science fiction novels are intriguing, many are questioning their validity.

Although analyzing DNA to find your perfect match might sound like a ridiculous use of your genetic information, it's not a new practice. Investigating the genetic compatibility of couples is a routine practice for individuals who are at high risk for having children with specific serious genetic diseases, like Tay-Sachs and Bloom syndrome. Screening procedures like these have effectively reduced the number of affected babies, but are they equally as effective when applied to the online dating industry?

Criticisms of DNA-based dating services, and other matchmaking services that rely on science and technology, are strong. Some believe that providing scientific explanations for courtship, attraction, attachment, and romantic romantic love will cause the experience to lose some of its magic and disenchant daters. Others believe that it is simply impossible to biologically define such complex concepts. Larry J. Young, a principal investigator in the Laboratory of Social Neurobiology at Emory University, spoke with Giovanni Frazzetto of Nature.com about his misgivings: "the situation is far, far too complex to begin to think we can pick 'the perfect match' based on this information. These companies are taking advantage of a public who have been educated by the media."

Former chief psychology officer for True.com, James Houran, took on scientific matching in a 2007 article published in the OnlineDatingMagazine. "What we have are groups of authors, nice sounding university affiliations and academicians generally interested in relationships," he wrote. "Yet, nowhere do we see these teams with published, compatibility experts, and more importantly, tests and measurements experts who ground their work in the statistical gold standard of modern test theory!"

Some critics have raised more serious concerns about the potential for misuse of researchers' growing knowledge of emotional chemistry, claiming that it may be possible to use it to manipulate the brain and control emotions. Love potions, perhaps, are not as far-fetched as they seem.

Ultimately, Young believes that science-based approaches to matchmaking will not be more effective or more popular than other approaches to online dating. "People will always be selling the 'new' way to find true love," he says.

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