When it comes to finding a partner , having too many options can be a guarantee of loneliness . A team of British researchers has reached this conclusion after analyzing the behavior of several singles during speed dating sessions. The conclusions of the study are published in the journal Biology Letters .
The authors analyzed the decisions made by nearly 4,000 men and women in 84 speed dates held in the UK , where participants had three minutes to speak with dozens of potential candidates. And they concluded that singles who had access to a wide range of subjects – with significant differences in interests, jobs and physical characteristics – were less likely to date.
When similar people participated in meetings with around 50 people, the organizers counted about 123 proposals by singles to make a future date with someone they met at the meeting. But when the dating sessions included a broader range of candidates, the number of proposals dropped to 85, a number that fell to 57 as the variety of candidates increased. " Too much variety makes the decision confusing , and you are more likely to be single, " concludes Alison Lenton, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh and a co-author of the study.
