NY TIMES - Feb 11 - eHarmony’s senior research scientist, Gian C.
Gonzaga, went to the big annual meeting of the Society for Personality
and Social Psychology, held recently in New Orleans. He said its newest
algorithm matches couples by focusing on six factors:
- Level of agreeableness
- Preference for closeness with a partner
- Degree of sexual and romantic passion
- Level of extroversion and openness to new experience
- How important spirituality is
- How optimistic and happy each one is
The more similarly that two people score in these factors, the better their chances, Dr. Gonzaga said. His assertion left the critics slightly intrigued but quite unconvinced. Similarity components are notoriously weak at accounting for relationship satisfaction,” said Paul W. Eastwick of the University of Texas, Austin. “For example, what really matters for my relationship satisfaction is whether I myself am neurotic and, to a slightly lesser extent, whether my partner is neurotic. Our similarity on neuroticism is irrelevant.”
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