First impressions matter for a long lasting relationship

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on romantic first impressions from the University of California, Davis, found that 'compatibility and popularity' during the dating period have an impact on who individuals pursue as possible love partners. 

Although popularity and compatibility have been studied in established romantic relationships, in one of the first studies of its kind, UC Davis researchers explored whether these and other types of romantic first impressions affected later romantic outcomes. 

It was found that first impressions tend to linger, shaping whether people desired further contact with potential romantic partners after an initial meeting. 

"Although we expected popularity to be an important factor in the study, we were amazed to find that a good first impression is not just a popularity contest, it is also about compatibility, even when people are still getting to know each other," said Alexander Baxter, a UC Davis doctoral student in psychology and co-author of the study.

"In other words, although it helps to be popular when it comes to getting a second date, having a unique connection with a potential partner can be just as important", Baxter further added.  

The assessement made during speed dates, the researchers asked more than 550 speed-daters, including some men who date the same sex, to rate their romantic interest in the potential partners they met. 

The participants, all from the United States or Canada, included both college students and people attending a comic book convention, who cumulatively attended more than 6,600 speed-dates during the experiment.

"Representation matters in psychological research and one of the strengths of our study are that we included a subsample of men who date men that attended an all-male speed-dating event," Baxter said. "This means that our findings generalize not only to male-female relationships but also to male-male relationships. We hope that future studies will consider other diverse types of relationships. 

After the speed-dating event, researchers surveyed the participants over the next two to three months to assess whether they dated any of the potential partners that they met and how their romantic feelings changed over time. Researchers used a statistical model to test whether later romantic outcomes were predicted by three factors that affect how romantic first impressions form. Selectivity, popularity and compatibility being the three said factors. 

In other words, they looked at patterns of initial desire that were observed during the speed dates and assessed whether these factors differently predicted whether people later pursued a relationship with the potential partners that they met. 

The factors assessed were: 

Selectivity- Daniel liked Rose because he liked everyone

Popularity - Daniel liked Rose because everyone liked her

Compatibility - Daniel uniquely liked Rose, above and beyond his flirty disposition and her general popularity. 

The results showed that people were particularly likely to pursue a romantic relationship with those who were 'popular' and those they were 'compatible' with. Selectivity played a relatively small role, with more romantically outgoing individuals being slightly more likely than less outgoing people to pursue their speed-dating matches.