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January 19, 2008
What Makes A Good Love Match Test?
What I find most interesting about matchmaking sites is that they usually offer something that we'll call a love match test. The tests offered on such sites vary pretty widely from fairly simple profiles allowing the system to match people that, say, like comedy films but don't like pets. Some sites get a lot more in-depth and go so far as to provide complete personality tests to try to find other people with complimentary or compatible personalities. The simpler tests only really seem good at screening out serious, deal-breaking biographical facts. For instance, getting together with a veterinarian or someone else who specifies that you must love dogs when you're deathly allergic to animals might not be the best idea. In cases like this, the no-pets issue will save you a lot of time. Now, saving time is great, but I find the more complicated love match tests more attractive because they are geared towards opening up your options.
It's a bit of a cliché to point it out, but it is undeniably true that a lot of us don't know what we're looking for until we find it. That's why I'm interested in sites with matching systems that are geared towards helping you find what you're looking for even when you're not really sure what it is that you want. Most of the really good relationships I've had started unexpectedly and had pretty well nothing to do with what I thought I wanted. This, however, may not have been for the best and it hasn't brought me any closer to defining the perfect profile of a potential mate.
Still, I'd like to know what really makes a good love match test, because the things that have made me fall for people have often had very little to do with anything I'd expect to be covered on a personality profile. For example, I went nuts for one woman because of they way she moved her hands when she spoke. I can't really explain this, except that you could figure out what she was thinking by the way she moved her hands. It seem like there was a really clear connection. I think things like this do have something to do with who people are, but I'd be surprised to see it uncovered by a test unless there was a specific question like "are you a hand talker" on the questionnaire. Obviously, every possible quirk cannot be itemized.
On the other hand, and I'm sure no one really needs this pointed out, I'm no psychologist. I'm willing to defer to experts, and I'm curious to see what one of these love match tests will turn up, and I'd be pretty happy if one of these sites helped me solve the mystery of what it is that I'm after.
Posted by Leon at January 19, 2008 2:12 AM
