Abstract
In recent years, millions of citizens all over the world have used digital dating services. It remains unknown to what extent human sexuality will be changed by this. Based on an evolutionary psychological perspective, we assume that sexual selection shaped behavioural tendencies in men and women that are designed to increase the reproductive fitness. These tendencies are referred to as sexual strategies. Males and females sexual strategies differ according to sex-dimorphic reproductive investments. We assume that this inheritance will affect human sexuality also in a digital future. To evaluate this assumption, we conducted a selective review of studies on digital dating services. Based on sexual selection theory, we derived a number of hypotheses regarding how men and women will use digital dating services typically and how the use of digital dating services might affect sexual wellbeing. Out of an initial data set of 2,568 records, we finally reviewed a set of 13 studies. These studies provided support for the notion that men and women act in the digital dating area according to sex-typical strategies. However, sometimes the circumstances of digital dating affect communication flow, e.g., in that men are even more active in establishing contacts than they are in real world conditions. Overall, women appear to accomplish their sexual goals in digital dating arenas more than men do given a surplus of male demand. Our results suggest that future human sexuality will be impacted by an interaction of both: sex-dimorphic ancient sexual strategies and new technologies.
Highlights
Digital applications have widely influenced everyday life in most human societies
Problematic Tinder Use Scale (PTUS), Questionnaire assessing the pattern of Tinder Use, Short Happiness und Depression Scale (SDHS), Cybersex Motives Questionnaire (CMQ), Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI), Experiences in Close Relationships- Revised (ECR-R), Short UPPS-P Impulsivity Behavior Scale, Singe-Item Self-Esteem Scale (SISE) Objective rater estimated the vertical orientation of profile pictures, analysis via Welch’s ANOVA
This selective review evaluated a total of 13 cross-sectional studies on digital dating services
Summary
Digital applications have widely influenced everyday life in most human societies. there is good reason to assume that this holds true for the sexual life histories of many citizens in modern societies as well. Men’s mating preferences for numerous, young and physically attractive women will shape the online mating market as follows; (v) men will use dating platforms, hoping to extend the number of sexual partners, more than women do; and (vi) being of an older age is for women less favourable than for men. The interaction of male and female sexual strategies will have the following consequences in the online dating market; (vii) women will receive more requests than men do, and (viii) will receive more responses to their own requests than men do; (ix) women will be more self-centred in their profiles and communication than men; (x) highly attractive women will give fewer responses to requests than less attractive women; (xi) compared to men, older women will use dating services more frequently than younger women do. We conducted a selective review of recent studies on digital sexual dating services
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