In an analysis of online dating site data from four large US cities, ISR’s Elizabeth Bruch and U-M complex systems professor Mark Newman used a ranking algorithm to rate users’ desirability (attractiveness as a mate) and then examined how initiated contacts reflected these ratings. They found that both men and women pursue partners who are on average about 25% more desirable than themselves and that they use different messaging strategies with partners of different desirability. Bruch says that although many contacts up the hierarchy remain unanswered, “21% of people who engage in this aspirational behavior do get replies from a mate who is out of their league, so perseverance pays off.”

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