The effect of language errors and knowledge about (non)nativeness in online dating profile texts on dating intention and the perception of the writer.

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2022-06-27
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en
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More and more of people’s time is being spent online for all different kinds of purposes. Thus, online dating platforms are also becoming more and more popular in an attempt to find love. Since the first impression is now taking place behind a screen, possible other aspects play a bigger role now than when getting the first impression in real life. For instance, the first impression that one will get from the other person is in written language instead of spoken language, which may make language errors more obvious. What is also interesting is whether people are judged in the same way, independently of what their native language is. The current study has tried to investigate whether language errors in online dating profiles and knowledge about nativeness of the writer influences the reader when evaluating the writer in terms of intelligence, attractiveness and dating intentions. This was done by having 131 participants evaluate the author of a real dating profile which contained or did not contain errors, and which included or did not include information about the native language of this person. The results showed no significant effect for perceived attractiveness and dating intention. Authors were perceived as more intelligent when their texts did not contain errors and the reader had information about the native language. Proofreading a text on language errors may therefore be something to consider as they negatively affect perceived intelligence of the writer.
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