Should You Pay For Online Dating?

According to BigThink.com writer Marina Adshade, the answer is YES.

In an article called "Why You Should Never Pay For Online Dating", OkCupid's dating research blog, OkTrends, reported in April of this year that the practice of paying for dates on other dating sites is fundamentally broken. Their main argument is that there are too few subscribers on paid dating sites, and therefore too few potential matches for each single-and-searching member. It's a point that might be valid, but there is also a counter-argument: "that if you do find a match on an online dating site, that match is more likely to commit to meet if they have paid a fee for the service."

A 2009 study published in Current Psychology called "Sunk Cost and Commitment to Dates Arranged Online" tested this theory by creating an online dating simulation in which participants "paid" a fee in order to search online for potential dates after answering a questionnaire describing their ideal match. After the search, participants were told that a match was found, but that he or she didn't have all of the qualities the participant was looking for. They were also told that a friend was interested in setting them up on a blind date with a person who was a perfect match for them. Each participant was told to choose how much time, out of an hour total, they would be willing to commit to the inferior match from the dating site, and how much time they would commit to the superior match of the blind date.

The results of the study backed up Adshade's theory. A strong correlation was observed between a participant's preference for the match from the online dating site and the amount of money they had invested in the service. Participants who paid little or no money for the match making service were significantly less likely to choose the online date over the blind date than participants who paid a higher fee. On average, the length of time women in the study choose to dedicate to a date was 13 minutes when the cost was $0, and 28 minutes when the cost was $50. Men who paid $0 were willing to commit 28 minutes to a date, while men who paid $50 were willing to commit 49 minutes.

Adshade draws two important conclusions from this research:

1. If money is used to encourage commitment, men need much less of an incentive to commit than women do.
2. Sunk cost effects tend to disappear over time, which means that if you're searching for a partner online it is advantageous to use a site that charges a monthly fee, rather than a one-time upfront fee.

So what do you think, daters? Are you more likely to find your match using a free dating site or a paid online dating service?