eHarmony or eHoax?
A recent story in The New York Times noted that eHarmony's much-vaunted algorithms for matching people may just not be doing the job, after all.
According to the story, eHarmony’s senior research scientist, Dr. Gian C. Gonzaga, was criticized by Dr. Harry T. Reis of of the University of Rochester, one of the authors of last year’s critique of the company's matching formula, saying eHarmony's results could simply "merely reflect the well-known 'person effect;' an agreeable, non-neurotic, optimistic person will tend to fare better in any relationship."
But the research, reporter John Tierney writes, "also showed that it’s hard to make predictions based on what’s called a dyadic effect — how similar the partners are to each other," one of the main ways eHarmony matches people with their "soul mate."
On the other side, I recently read that one out of six marriages now come from online matches. So, who's to say? I met my husband the old-fashioned way -- at a singles' function, the 80's way of meeting someone. I smiled at him across the room, even though he was, at that moment in time, with another woman, and the rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/skepticism-as-eharmony-defends-its-matchmaking-algorithm.html?pagewanted=all
According to the story, eHarmony’s senior research scientist, Dr. Gian C. Gonzaga, was criticized by Dr. Harry T. Reis of of the University of Rochester, one of the authors of last year’s critique of the company's matching formula, saying eHarmony's results could simply "merely reflect the well-known 'person effect;' an agreeable, non-neurotic, optimistic person will tend to fare better in any relationship."
But the research, reporter John Tierney writes, "also showed that it’s hard to make predictions based on what’s called a dyadic effect — how similar the partners are to each other," one of the main ways eHarmony matches people with their "soul mate."
On the other side, I recently read that one out of six marriages now come from online matches. So, who's to say? I met my husband the old-fashioned way -- at a singles' function, the 80's way of meeting someone. I smiled at him across the room, even though he was, at that moment in time, with another woman, and the rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/skepticism-as-eharmony-defends-its-matchmaking-algorithm.html?pagewanted=all
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