Measuring love from the body

Our goal was to see whether we could measure from the body when dating couples formed match during a speed-date event, and whether we could stimulate this by prompting them to be more self-disclosing.

We designed and measured a science-based dating experience in three different countries where we invited singles to a fun speed-dating event where each individual would date up to 10 other individuals who were open to a romantic relationship. Each date took 5 minutes. Dates were instructed to either discuss sensitive thoughts and self-disclosing topics such as sharing a hard childhood memory or a big dream, or to stick to superficial topics such as describing a favorite TV show or ice-cream flavor. After each round, they indicated whether they would want to date the other person again, or not. We had participants wear wristbands which measured their feelings by recording heart rate and sweating of the skin. 

We are now analyzing the data and our goal is to see how best we can predict romantic “matches” based on: (a) similarity or dissimilarity of personality traits, (b) the topic and level of disclosure of the conversation, and (c) physiological measures to see if arousal levels measured through skin conductance responses and their synchrony can predict the outcome of the dates. 

Over a thousand dates were held at three locations: Brigham Young University, Department of Experience Design & Management, United States, and at Tourism Management School, Sun Yat-Sen University, China, and Experience Lab, Breda University of Applied Sciences. It will be interesting to see if culture plays a role in our multilevel dyadic models. We plan to design similar studies in measuring and optimizing human connection experiences in other leisure settings. Let us know if you are interested to connect with us in this area of research.

Project Partners

Brigham Young University (Department of Experience Design & Management), Sun Yat-Sen University (Tourism Management School)