Tinder has changed the way that my generation views dating and hooking up. Tinder’s presence has changed the way that people indicate a preference for another person. One of the reasons that it has been able to do this so successfully is by taking the first interaction from a dynamic game to a static game. A dynamic game is one in which moves are sequential someone makes the first move and someone makes the second. A static game is one in which the moves happen at the same time.
In the real world, someone always makes the first move; it does not really matter what the move is, a wave, a wink, a conversation, an invitation to dinner. There is some risk involved to making the first move. The positive benefit of being reciprocated is great but the negative of being rejected is also large. Let’s use the following payoff matrix to think about the payoffs for making the first move in person.
|
Payoff Matrix for making the first move IRL |
P2 |
||
|
Accept |
Reject |
||
|
P1 |
Make a move |
(20,10) |
(-30, -1) |
|
Do not make a move |
(-5, 0) |
(0,0) |
|
|
Payoff Matrix for making the first move online |
P2 |
||
|
Accept |
Reject |
||
|
P1 |
Make a move |
(5,5) |
(0,0) |
|
Do not make a move |
(0, 0) |
(0,0) |
|
The payoff for getting an accepted first move is high, but not as large of a magnitude of the negative reaction for being rejected. Online the payoffs are very different. The positive benefit to a match is much less, being accepted online holds little weight, but the negative reaction for being rejected drops to zero. Why does this value drop to zero?
Dating apps function as a static game:
Dating apps do not notify users rejection only of their matches, they also don’t tell the user if it is a match until both people have swiped. This changes the game from dynamic to static because both peoples moves are being revealed at the same time. Static games have both players move without knowledge of the others moves, then the result of the moves are revealed at the same time. The first move of this game, the swipe to left or right can be thought of in these terms. This static game has less risk of embarrassment for the person who would have made the first move. No longer is the first move maker at the risk of being rejected and notified (an unknown rejection does not cause any distress) and also does not run the risk of any embarrassment. Because tinder does not let people know if they have already been seen by the person they are shown the lack of match can be read as one of two things, a rejection or they just have not been seen and swiped on yet. The person will not know which of the two these are and so will not face a large negative. The next move post match is back to a dynamic game because either player can send a message but one will know that the other sends a message, and what that message is, as soon as it is sent and without the requirement that they also send a message.
Interested?
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/paul-oyer-what-online-dating-can-teach-about-economics