Taylor et al (2011)

• Taylor et al (2011) carried out a study on the matching hypothesis using the internet dating site ‘hotornot’. They obtained permission to use the site’s activity logs to identify who was contracting whom, and how much chat traffic was occurring between different site members
• 120 heterosexual men and women were chosen at random and referred to as ‘initiators’. Taylor et al identified every member of the website who had been contacted by an initiator, referring to these as ‘targets’. They collected photos of the targets and initiator, producing a sample of 996 daters
• Independent raters were asked to rate the 996 photos on a 7 point scale from -3 to +3, 0 was seen as average, these raters had no idea who had contracted whom
• In terms of initial contact, there was no evidence of matching. Initiators contracted targets across the spectrum, some of whom were more physically attractive than they were
• This is in line with Walster’s computer dance findings and doesn’t support the matching hypothesis
• Taylor’s research suggests that the matching hypothesis does apply to romantic relationships, but it applies more to the later stages of the dating process, rather than explaining initial attraction