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There are many factors that decide whether we are attracted to someone. Of note are observations from the science file “Wanted: Tall, Dark, Rich, and Nice. Why Do Women Want It All?” Women with large eyes, prominent cheekbones, a small nose, and other youthful features are considered attractive, just as a square jaw, broad forehead, and other masculine features are appealing in men. Various situational factors can also influence attractiveness. For example, having a relationship in secret is more attractive than having a relationship out in the open. In a study affectionately called the “footsie study,” researchers asked a pair of opposite-sex participants to play footsie under a table in the presence of another pair of participants (none of the participants were romantically involved with each other). When the act of playing footsie was kept a secret from the others, those involved found each other more attractive than when the footsie game was not kept a secret.
James Pennebaker and colleagues investigated this question with a study using another affectionate name: the “closing time” study. They surveyed bar patrons at three different times during the night. The study found that people were rated as more attractive when closing time approached! Yes, it appears that girls and guys really DO get better looking at closing time. As the deadline to choose a partner draws near, the discrepancy between who is attractive and who’s not is reduced. This means that throughout the night, it becomes more difficult for us to determine who we really find attractive.
Why does this occur? Well, the obvious reason might be alcohol; however, subsequent research of this phenomenon took alcohol into account and found that it did not explain this effect. Another idea was simple economics. As a commodity becomes scarce, it becomes more valuable. Thus, early in the evening one can be more discriminating because there is ample time to choose a partner. As the time in which to acquire the commodity runs out, the desire for the commodity increases.
The Effect of Time on eHarmony
When are people on eHarmony the most attractive? If you are a current eHarmony user, you may have occasionally been asked to rate a match. We took a random week and looked at thousands of eHarmony users to see if their match ratings were different depending on the day of the week. Here’s what we found:
Attractiveness ratings were pretty steady from Monday to Thursday, but there was a peak on Friday and then a drop during the weekend. It seems that the day of the week has a big impact on how people rate their matches. Similar to the closing time study, we might build people up as the weekend and “date night” approach, but by Saturday this motivation is gone.
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