Gemma Spake

Gambling.

Your brain learns pretty fast when rewards aren't guaranteed versus when they are, which is why when it's unsure, it stays much longer.

Its attention is much more hooked because of anticipation.

we know that most swipes lead to nothing but sometimes you get a match and occasionally you get a really good match with somebody you really really like that keeps you hooked in the literature on operant conditioning unpredictable rewards are exactly the kind that keep behavior going the longest even longer than

predictability even longer than knowing when you're going to receive a reward for a certain behavior so this is what's happening you keep coming back time and time again just because there's a chance there's a chance that you're going to find someone you actually like or who is attractive or who piques your interest

But dating apps as well, there's always this comparison to gambling.

I feel like we've talked about it so many times.

They also add something that gambling doesn't, which is a layer of social evaluation.

I think this is really critical.

A match is great.

It isn't just a reward, though.

It's not like money.

It's also about the social element.

It's the feeling of being wanted.

Money is great.

Being chosen is better.

A 2016 study published in Mobile Media and Communication

conducted a survey to look at the motives behind why people use tinder specifically and what they found was that a lot of the time men reported using tinder for sex for hookups for seeking relationships women on the other hand reported using it for friendship actually but also for self-validation

Friendship aspect, a little bit confused by.

It kind of surprised me.