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Are men intimidated by highly educated women? Undercover on Tinder

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  • Neyt, Brecht
  • Vandenbulcke, Sarah
  • Baert, Stijn

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impact of an individual's education level on her/his mating success on the mobile dating app Tinder. To do so, we conducted a field experiment on Tinder in which we collected data on 3,600 profile evaluations. In line with previous research on mating preferences from multiple fields, our results indicate a heterogeneous effect of education level by gender: while women strongly prefer a highly educated potential partner, this hypothesis is rejected for men. In contrast with recent influential studies from the field of economics, we do not find any evidence that men would have an aversion to a highly educated potential partner. Additionally, in contrast with most previous research – again from multiple fields – we do not find any evidence for preferences for educational assortative mating, i.e. preferring a partner with a similar education level.

Suggested Citation

  • Neyt, Brecht & Vandenbulcke, Sarah & Baert, Stijn, 2019. "Are men intimidated by highly educated women? Undercover on Tinder," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:73:y:2019:i:c:s0272775719301104
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101914
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    Cited by:

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    2. Van Borm, Hannah & Burn, Ian & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Ong, David & Yang, Yu (Alan) & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "Hard to get: The scarcity of women and the competition for high-income men in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Miyamoto, Tomohisa & Bedi, Arjun S., 2024. "English Language Premium in a Marriage Market: Experimental Evidence from Delhi," IZA Discussion Papers 17366, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Beloborodova, Anna, 2023. "Political views regarding the war in Ukraine in an online dating experiment," MPRA Paper 120739, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Brecht Neyt & Stijn Baert & Jana Vynckier, 2022. "Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success: A Field Experiment," De Economist, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 435-458, November.
    7. Beloborodova, Anna, 2023. "Love or politics? Political views regarding the war in Ukraine in an online dating experiment," MPRA Paper 118862, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Juan Ramón Barrada & Ángel Castro, 2020. "Tinder Users: Sociodemographic, Psychological, and Psychosexual Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Ángel Castro & Juan Ramón Barrada, 2020. "Dating Apps and Their Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Correlates: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-25, September.
    10. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2021. "Love, life, and “leftover ladies” in urban China: Staying modernly single in patriarchal traditions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Returns to education; Mating success; Assortative mating; Dating apps; Tinder;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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