Psychology and More

The NY Times has an article on the science behind online matchmaking services. It illustrates the difficulty of peer review of proprietary business models. Yet, for the algorithms to get better, they need to be critically evaluated, I believe. But, that’s because I think more like a scientist than a business mogul.

eHarmony – Psychology – Online Dating – Compatibility Testing – New York Times:

As the matchmakers compete for customers — and denigrate each other’s methodology — the battle has intrigued academic researchers who study the mating game. On the one hand, they are skeptical, because the algorithms and the results have not been published for peer review. But they also realize that these online companies give scientists a remarkable opportunity to gather enormous amounts of data and test their theories in the field. EHarmony says more than 19 million people have filled out its questionnaire.

Technorati Tags: psychology, social psychology