UIST: "My Dating Site Thinks I'm a loser"

Article: “My Dating Site Thinks I’m a Loser”:
Effects of Personal Photos and Presentation Intervals
on Perceptions of Recommender Systems

Authors: Shailendra Rao, Tom Hurlbutt, Clifford Nass, Nundu JanakiRam

Summary: The authors of this article decided it would be interesting to study the problem of people "gaming" social networking sites in order to procure better responses from the algorithm that the website uses in order to match them up with other people, in this article it is specifically dating sites that get targeted. The authors created a website, devoid of everything except for a questionnaire, that would be used to gather information from participants in the study (56 people, avg age 20.2). However, the responses that the website provided were not at all dependent on the answers to the questionnaire that the participant provided. The goal was to study the different website features that would have an effect on whether or not a person would feel it necessary to "game the system" (change their responses to the questionnaire) in order to gain a better response from the algorithm's matched results. What the authors discovered was mainly that a small element, such as the user's personal profile picture being displayed while the questionnaire was being taken, had a large effect on whether or not the user would take to "gaming the system". If a user had a profile picture present while answering the questionnaire, they would be far more likely to refrain from "gaming the system".

Shaun's Opinion: A very interesting look into the human psyche, I think. While there was a LOT of statistical information provided here, which made the article very hard to follow unless you have a degree in statistical analysis, the end result was nonetheless very interesting. To be able to quantitatively measure the probability that a person would lie about themselves in order to gain better results from a dating website is very fascinating. I suppose looking at your own profile picture, or simply having it displayed while answering a questionnaire, gives people a chance to look at themselves before they decide to lie, and most people chose not to after being able to see their own picture.