Managing Impressions Online & Game Theory
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00020.x
The research paper “Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment” was wrote by Nicole Ellison, Rebecca Heino, and Jennifer Gibbs. This paper researches on self-presentation strategies among online dating participants, exploring how participants manage their online self-presentation to achieve their goals of finding a romantic partner.
The difference between online dating and in person dating is that online environments offer individuals an increased ability to control their self-presentation, and therefore greater opportunities to engage in misrepresentation. One of the reasons behind the behaviors is that in online dating, there are only limited information presented to others, such as personal profiles and pictures, so each piece of information became more important than in person dating. The room of manipulating the information become easier. One reason behind exaggerating or even lying about certain acts about themselves is to gain the favorable impression from the online dating partners. Some people would photoshop their pictures, some would lying about their ages, and some people would claim the sports that they only did once as their hobbies. Another reason behind exaggerating or even lying is that some people think many people are exaggerating, so people would decrease the expectation of the real person; if he/she states the truth, he/she will also be undermined by the people who look through their profiles; so they have no choice but exaggerating like others.
Those behaviors remind me of game theory. Let’s use a simple model to interpret the behaviors of exaggerating or even lying. Let’s say there are A and B two users using the online dating app. Both of their sex orientation is the same. Both of them have the same qualities like the hobbies, heights, weights, and etc. If A exaggerate/lie, while B telling the truth, A gains 10 impression score from the potential dating partner, while B gains 0 impression score. Vice versa. If both of them exaggerate/lie, they both gain 7 impression score since there are no comparison and comparison will give the other side a better impression. Also, when many people exaggerate/lie, the other side will decrease the expectations. If both of them tell the truth, their impression score would both be 5. Therefore, exaggerating/lying become the dominant strategy and both of them exaggerate/lie is the Nash Equilibrium.
| A | B | ||
| Exaggerate/lie | Truth | ||
| A | Exaggerate/lie | 7, 7 | 0, 10 |
| B | Truth | 10, 0 | 5, 5 |
However, in real life, the model will be more complicated because there are other factors. If people want to seek a long-term relationship, they will be more truthful because they know one day their partners will find the truth. If people are seeking a short-term relationship, the chance of exaggerating/lying would be higher.