How Men Judge A Dating Profile Versus How Women Do, According To Science

When you’re looking at someone’s dating profile, how long do you stare at their photos? Are you quick to read (and judge) the written portion of the profile? Do you pay close attention to what they’ve filled in under occupation? (“CEO at self-employed” and a graduate of the “school of hard knocks”? Let’s be honest, you’re splitting the tab or paying for dinner yourself.)

A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior earlier this summer suggests that where your attention goes first may depend on your gender.

Researchers monitored eye movement to see how straight men and straight women evaluated online dating profiles.

Generally speaking, men tended to zero in on physical attractiveness before taking anything else into account. (No surprise there, given the amount of studies that have shown that men are highly visual when it comes to picking a mate.)

Women, meanwhile, considered both attractiveness and resource potential.

“Regardless of how attractive the man was (high or low), women spent more time looking at men’s faces when resources were low than high,” said Amy Lykins, a lead author of the study and an associate professor in clinical psychology at the University of New England in Maine.

Though Lykins stressed that the findings are open to interpretation and didn’t offer one herself, one possible reading is that women on dating apps may throw less well-off men a bone by scrutinizing their attractiveness more closely. (He may not be pulling in six figures, but he’s got a cute face...)

Men were predominantly interested in women’s faces, with one interesting exception: They tended to spend a little extra time with the profile if the woman had a high-paying or prestigious job, especially when she was rated as