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See Also
See Again
© Shutterstock
0 / 30 Fotos
Reward processing
- Humans like looking at people we find attractive. When someone opens a dating app, they're presented with a variety of images of potential love interests.
© Shutterstock
1 / 30 Fotos
Reward processing
- A study by F.C. Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging in the Netherlands found activity in a brain region involved in reward processing is more active when people view attractive faces.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Nucleus accumbens
- This area of the brain, known as the nucleus accumbens, acts as the neural interface between motivation and action. It plays a key role in food, sex, and stress-related and drug-taking behaviors.
© Shutterstock
3 / 30 Fotos
Unpredictable rewards
- Unpredictable rewards cause even more activity in reward centers of the brain than those we know are coming. An element of unpredictability keeps users curious and hooked.
© Shutterstock
4 / 30 Fotos
Unpredictable rewards
- Consider this effect when using an app like Tinder: similar to a casino slot machine, you never know when you might hit the jackpot.
© Shutterstock
5 / 30 Fotos
Swiping right
- When users swipe right on people on an app, they don't know if they'll match with someone they find attractive. Even if a conversation begins, they don't know if/when a person will respond.
© Shutterstock
6 / 30 Fotos
Swiping right
- Even when they don't have the app open, others can swipe on them, so if the app is opened after a prolonged period of time, there are new matches potentially waiting.
© Shutterstock
7 / 30 Fotos
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
- Another part of the brain, called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), seems to be what we engage to regulate options.
© Shutterstock
8 / 30 Fotos
Response to choice
- When responding to choices, the amygdala and ventral striatum are activated. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex holds subjective value, while the DLPFC weights each value against each other.
© Shutterstock
9 / 30 Fotos
How values are weighted
- Factors including delay discounting, cognitive bias, and decreasing satisfaction as consumption increases modify the weight of each value.
© Shutterstock
10 / 30 Fotos
Goal alignment
- Depending on our goals, our DLPFC weights higher value to certain choices that we can make. In other words, self-control may not be a simple case of impulse vs. deliberation.
© Shutterstock
11 / 30 Fotos
Checking dating apps
- If someone holds a strong goal of finding a romantic partner, the DLPFC part of the brain assigns greater weight to checking the apps regularly.
© Shutterstock
12 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- Another big issue on dating apps is the sheer volume of choices available. Some psychologists claim having too much choice makes it less likely a decision is made at all.
© Shutterstock
13 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- For example, one study by Columbia University found people were more likely to buy a jam when faced with six options instead of 30.
© Shutterstock
14 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- Of those people who had made a purchase, people who had been given fewer options reported greater levels of satisfaction with their choice afterwards.
© Shutterstock
15 / 30 Fotos
Changes in the brain response
- In some studies, it's been suggested that the longer the interaction with dating apps, the more the brain adapts in response to them.
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Changes in the brain response
- The reward and learning pathway in the brain has been linked to the chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine releases a pleasant sensation in response to a reward.
© Shutterstock
17 / 30 Fotos
Dopamine response
- However, over time, more and more dopamine neuron firing occurs in response to the reward predictor instead of the the reward itself.
© Shutterstock
18 / 30 Fotos
Cue and reward
- In other words, the cue that predicts the reward gets more dopamine firing. Knowing what's going to happen releases more happy chemicals than the actual reward itself.
© Shutterstock
19 / 30 Fotos
Cue and reward
- Dating apps can hijack a user's reward-learning brain pathway. At first, a release of dopamine is likely to occur once the person has viewed who the match is.
© Shutterstock
20 / 30 Fotos
Dopamine surge
- But, over time, it becomes more likely the person will experience a surge of dopamine just from receiving the notification. The brain has adapted to associate it with learning about a match.
© Shutterstock
21 / 30 Fotos
Addictive?
- Does this process mean dating apps are addictive? They're run by companies, whose goal is to make money. The more time spent on the app, the more money is made.
© Shutterstock
22 / 30 Fotos
Addictive?
- Dopamine is involved in a number of addictive processes, but there is still much we don't know about the outcome of what takes place on dating apps and their effects on users.
© Shutterstock
23 / 30 Fotos
Lawsuit
- On Valentine's Day in 2024, a group of six people filed a lawsuit against Match Group (owner of Tinder, Hinge, and other popular dating apps and sites) claiming their "addictive, game-like" features were made to "lock users into a perpetual pay-to-play loop."
© Shutterstock
24 / 30 Fotos
Lawsuit
- Match Group denies the allegation, saying they strive to "get people on dates every day and off our apps," according to a company spokesperson.
© Shutterstock
25 / 30 Fotos
Altering social interactions, or facilitating them?
- Molly Crockett, a neuroscientist at Yale University, wrote a paper about dating applications in response to recent outrage. In it, she noted these apps provide a platform for existing human behavior, rather than altering it.
© Shutterstock
26 / 30 Fotos
Making lives easier
- Dating app creators, likewise, claim they are making people's lives easier without changing them or hacking our neurobiology.
© Shutterstock
27 / 30 Fotos
Love is less profitable
- However, if this was truly the case, many of the app's business models wouldn't make any money. They survive as long as users keep swiping.
© Shutterstock
28 / 30 Fotos
The search continues
- For many, dating apps are convenient and a way to get rid of boredom, temporarily at least. They offer at worst temporary gratification and, at best, a shot at finding someone special. Their appeal might rise and fall, and they might be hacking the brain's reward pathways, but they're more than likely here to stay. Sources: (National Geographic) (Psychology Today) (The Guardian) (Pew Research Center)
© Shutterstock
29 / 30 Fotos
© Shutterstock
0 / 30 Fotos
Reward processing
- Humans like looking at people we find attractive. When someone opens a dating app, they're presented with a variety of images of potential love interests.
© Shutterstock
1 / 30 Fotos
Reward processing
- A study by F.C. Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging in the Netherlands found activity in a brain region involved in reward processing is more active when people view attractive faces.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Nucleus accumbens
- This area of the brain, known as the nucleus accumbens, acts as the neural interface between motivation and action. It plays a key role in food, sex, and stress-related and drug-taking behaviors.
© Shutterstock
3 / 30 Fotos
Unpredictable rewards
- Unpredictable rewards cause even more activity in reward centers of the brain than those we know are coming. An element of unpredictability keeps users curious and hooked.
© Shutterstock
4 / 30 Fotos
Unpredictable rewards
- Consider this effect when using an app like Tinder: similar to a casino slot machine, you never know when you might hit the jackpot.
© Shutterstock
5 / 30 Fotos
Swiping right
- When users swipe right on people on an app, they don't know if they'll match with someone they find attractive. Even if a conversation begins, they don't know if/when a person will respond.
© Shutterstock
6 / 30 Fotos
Swiping right
- Even when they don't have the app open, others can swipe on them, so if the app is opened after a prolonged period of time, there are new matches potentially waiting.
© Shutterstock
7 / 30 Fotos
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
- Another part of the brain, called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), seems to be what we engage to regulate options.
© Shutterstock
8 / 30 Fotos
Response to choice
- When responding to choices, the amygdala and ventral striatum are activated. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex holds subjective value, while the DLPFC weights each value against each other.
© Shutterstock
9 / 30 Fotos
How values are weighted
- Factors including delay discounting, cognitive bias, and decreasing satisfaction as consumption increases modify the weight of each value.
© Shutterstock
10 / 30 Fotos
Goal alignment
- Depending on our goals, our DLPFC weights higher value to certain choices that we can make. In other words, self-control may not be a simple case of impulse vs. deliberation.
© Shutterstock
11 / 30 Fotos
Checking dating apps
- If someone holds a strong goal of finding a romantic partner, the DLPFC part of the brain assigns greater weight to checking the apps regularly.
© Shutterstock
12 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- Another big issue on dating apps is the sheer volume of choices available. Some psychologists claim having too much choice makes it less likely a decision is made at all.
© Shutterstock
13 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- For example, one study by Columbia University found people were more likely to buy a jam when faced with six options instead of 30.
© Shutterstock
14 / 30 Fotos
Spoilt for choice
- Of those people who had made a purchase, people who had been given fewer options reported greater levels of satisfaction with their choice afterwards.
© Shutterstock
15 / 30 Fotos
Changes in the brain response
- In some studies, it's been suggested that the longer the interaction with dating apps, the more the brain adapts in response to them.
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Changes in the brain response
- The reward and learning pathway in the brain has been linked to the chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine releases a pleasant sensation in response to a reward.
© Shutterstock
17 / 30 Fotos
Dopamine response
- However, over time, more and more dopamine neuron firing occurs in response to the reward predictor instead of the the reward itself.
© Shutterstock
18 / 30 Fotos
Cue and reward
- In other words, the cue that predicts the reward gets more dopamine firing. Knowing what's going to happen releases more happy chemicals than the actual reward itself.
© Shutterstock
19 / 30 Fotos
Cue and reward
- Dating apps can hijack a user's reward-learning brain pathway. At first, a release of dopamine is likely to occur once the person has viewed who the match is.
© Shutterstock
20 / 30 Fotos
Dopamine surge
- But, over time, it becomes more likely the person will experience a surge of dopamine just from receiving the notification. The brain has adapted to associate it with learning about a match.
© Shutterstock
21 / 30 Fotos
Addictive?
- Does this process mean dating apps are addictive? They're run by companies, whose goal is to make money. The more time spent on the app, the more money is made.
© Shutterstock
22 / 30 Fotos
Addictive?
- Dopamine is involved in a number of addictive processes, but there is still much we don't know about the outcome of what takes place on dating apps and their effects on users.
© Shutterstock
23 / 30 Fotos
Lawsuit
- On Valentine's Day in 2024, a group of six people filed a lawsuit against Match Group (owner of Tinder, Hinge, and other popular dating apps and sites) claiming their "addictive, game-like" features were made to "lock users into a perpetual pay-to-play loop."
© Shutterstock
24 / 30 Fotos
Lawsuit
- Match Group denies the allegation, saying they strive to "get people on dates every day and off our apps," according to a company spokesperson.
© Shutterstock
25 / 30 Fotos
Altering social interactions, or facilitating them?
- Molly Crockett, a neuroscientist at Yale University, wrote a paper about dating applications in response to recent outrage. In it, she noted these apps provide a platform for existing human behavior, rather than altering it.
© Shutterstock
26 / 30 Fotos
Making lives easier
- Dating app creators, likewise, claim they are making people's lives easier without changing them or hacking our neurobiology.
© Shutterstock
27 / 30 Fotos
Love is less profitable
- However, if this was truly the case, many of the app's business models wouldn't make any money. They survive as long as users keep swiping.
© Shutterstock
28 / 30 Fotos
The search continues
- For many, dating apps are convenient and a way to get rid of boredom, temporarily at least. They offer at worst temporary gratification and, at best, a shot at finding someone special. Their appeal might rise and fall, and they might be hacking the brain's reward pathways, but they're more than likely here to stay. Sources: (National Geographic) (Psychology Today) (The Guardian) (Pew Research Center)
© Shutterstock
29 / 30 Fotos
What dating apps are actually doing to your brain
Are you addicted to potential love?
© Shutterstock
It's hard to believe that just a decade ago "swiping right" was a brand new phenomenon. How much has changed in the meantime! According to Pew Research Center, around 10% of straight respondents met their long-term, committed partners on a dating site or app. Interestingly, the research showed dating app users were divided about whether their experience on these platforms was positive overall. But what is the gamification of the search for love doing to our brain? Humans are hardwired to seek a mate, and the same pathways that light up when people take drugs are activated by the feeling of falling in love. Could companies be capitalizing on our addiction to our own dopamine supply?
Click on to discover what dating apps are actually doing to your brain.
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