bookquery: books concerned with the psychology of dating sites.

May 28, 2008 6:15 PM

looking for books about the ins and outs of dating sites, from an "experience" point of view or about the psychology/behavioural psychology of those places. anyone read anything like this?

I've read a few books that had chapters relating to psychology and dating now I want to get into it more thoroughly. I'm more interested in the behavioural science aspects. I dont want to read anything about how to use dating sites or how to date people. I'm looking to compare and extend my thoughts on the psychology inside dating sites. Books on experiences or human interaction in closed systems may be of use also. thanks for any recommendations.

posted by browolf to Science & Nature (9 answers total)

As far as I know, and I haven't looked TOO far into it, this doesn't (yet) exist. Heck, there aren't really any reviews or critiques of online dating sites as far as I can tell. If you're a postgrad I'll bet you could probably get a grant to write something like this.
posted by rhizome at 6:58 PM on May 28, 2008

I think you'll probably find some goofy "reviews" of dating sites in back issues of FHM and the like, but to echo rhizome, I don't think there's any serious literature on the subject yet. Sounds like a good topic for a thesis though, which might possibly mean that is has been done before, so you could probably pursue info that way.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:18 PM on May 28, 2008

I saw this in the library last week: I Love You, Let's Meet: Adventures in Online Dating, and that book page lists a bunch of other books on the topic.
posted by judith at 9:36 PM on May 28, 2008

No idea if this is the kind of thing you're after, but the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story on this woman and her book the other day, which might fit your "experience" heading.

disclaimer: i only noticed it because i thought the title & photo formed a funny combination ;)
posted by UbuRoivas at 11:08 PM on May 28, 2008

Response by poster: good idea on the thesis idea, no not for me, i'm no good at large amounts of writing. I've been looking on google scholar. some interesting things on there although by their nature they're kind of heavy going lol. that book in the sydney herald looks interesting. i'm gonna get that.
posted by browolf at 4:30 AM on May 29, 2008

Not a book, but a Ashley and Me is a blog about one guy's experiences at an online dating site. He goes into pretty good detail and description and does note some general rules of behavior in the introduction. The subsequent chapters describe his encounters and there are interesting behavioral tidbits in there too.
posted by reebear at 8:34 AM on May 29, 2008

Last night's Fresh Air featured an interview with a man who had just written a book about online dating, specifically about how he and his 80-year-old dad were both using online personals at the same time.
posted by dizziest at 2:11 PM on May 29, 2008

Response by poster: wow that ashley and me is fascinating. I never realised there was such interesting stuff on blogspot.

Everyone gotta read the post where he almost hits on himself lmao
Meet Claire...
posted by browolf at 4:46 PM on June 5, 2008

heh - A homeless American man accused of duping 13 women by posing as a millionaire on an internet dating service has been arraigned.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:45 PM on June 5, 2008