Conversation wins over setting in new dating study

'Location, location, location' turns out not to be so decisive when it comes to dating, according to new research from the department of psychology.

What resonates more, researchers found out through a clever experiment, is of course the human connection:

The researchers randomly paired up 200 strangers in two different first date environments.

One room was adorned with comfortable furniture, decorations and nice lighting. The other space was completely the opposite: white cement walls, old wooden chairs, and junk lying around.

But the couples who met and talked in the plain space didn’t let that kill the vibe.

“It’s not necessarily the environment where the interaction is taking place that makes the biggest difference, but rather the quality of the interaction and conversation,” said Daisi Brand, corresponding author of the study and a graduate student in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “It might not be how comfortable the space and physical surroundings are, but really how comfortable you make this other person feel.”

The experiment relied on the Fast-Friends Paradigm, a layered list of prompts to get to know someone. With 36 questions ranging from what you like to sing to your relationship with your mother, the prompts helped participants connect in both the comfortable and uncomfortable spaces.

“I think the reason that we didn’t find differences between these settings is because of the meaningful conversations that were happening in both spaces,” said Brand. “Participants reported knowing that they weren’t in an appealing setting, but they still felt close or romantically attracted to the other person.”

The findings offer hope to people stressing about a first date location. The romance will speak for itself.

As it should, even in beautiful places. Let a thousand flowers bloom and continue reading about this terrific new work from the Slatcher Lab.

Image: photo via iStock.