Julian: Cute smile. Crazy hair, alright I dig it. Bunny ears is going to be a no. You
want to let me know when we're rolling? [off camera]: We're rolling!
Julian: Oh, sorry I didn't realize, I wasn't on Tinder or anything. Okay you got me, I
lied, I was on Tinder. Oh what's Tinder? Well, it's this relatively new dating app that's altering
the way millions of people date. And each week it's user base balloons by fifteen percent,
faster than any dating app in history! So why is it so addictive? Well it's the game
of love with the pressure taken out. It increases your odds of meeting someone while lowering
the stakes if you fail. See, by reframing romance into quite literally a game, you fundamentally
changed how we engage in it. Let me explain, 80% of the time people spend playing video
games, they are failing at it. So why do you still go on playing for hours on end? Simple,
because you know you have a shot at winning. It's called "urgent optimism", which Jane
McGonigal defines as extreme self-motivation. The desire to act immediately to tackle an
obstacle combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success. That is
the exact opposite of how we tend to approach our love lives! So, does turning dating into
a game really make us more optimistic about it. To find out, we set up an experiment.
We gathered a selection of subjects who claimed to be pessimistic about their love life.
P1: I'm mingling, but not like aggressively mingling.
Julian: We gave them a test that measured their optimism about dating.
P2: I'm always optimistic about my future love life, no.
Julian: Then we had them download the app, set up a profile, and use it for 15 minutes.
P2: This guy is at a party with two babes and a gold chain and he's 19 years old. I'm
going to say no right now! P1: He just has pictures with celebrities.
It's like "I'm not that cool but look at the cool people I hang out with."
P3: This one has a very muscly back it's just pure back.
P1: This guy looks too serious and he's at the Grammys. He's too hipster.
P4: Why would she have the definition of rice in her profile, it's not very attractive.
P1: This guy is holding a banana. P3: Aw, puppy!
P2: Dogs, okay, I can work with this. P1: This guy is holding a dog! How sweet!
P2: If you have to take off your shirt and take a picture, automatic douche!
P3: It was cute! P2: This guy is holding an American flag,
like 98 degrees, on top of a mountain. I'm going to give him a heart right now.
P3: There's some girls in here! Melanie, alright! "Hey Melanie I wonder if we'll be a match!"
P5: Oh it's a match! P4: I like her!
P3: Liked! P2: Wow these guys are in plaid tuxedos holding
blue shady party cups and they say they're 23 but they look 33. I'm going to say yes
because they look like a fun time! P5: When you get a match it says send a message
or keep playing. So it's a game? Can I win? P3: I'm just so into it, I don't know which
way I'm swiping these people. P1: This guy looks fun!
P5: I got another match! It's just a bunch of matches, but she looks like my mom and
I kind of wish I didn't swipe right. I'm going to tell her she looks like my mom.
Julian: When time ran out, we pushed the game even further by incorporating a goal to work
towards. Find a total of ten people they would go on a date with!
Julian: Can I grab a seat here? P3: You want to play with me?
P1: Come on down! Julian: Okay, we have a little bit of a challenge
for you, I think you're going to do okay because we wanted to see if you could find ten people
on here that you would actually legitimately consider dating.
P5: Okay! P1: Sure! This guy definitely not.
Julian: We're not going to start with shirtless guy.
P3: So Elmer hearts his body. Alright let's have a look.
P4: She likes Doug I mean you can't go wrong with that. I think she's a like.
Julian: Alright we got one! P3: Is looking for a needle in the gaystack,
nope! Julian: Alright okay, two!
P3: Jason get's a like! Hey I got a match! P2: I got to see more pictures of this guy.
Julian: What enticed you to click on the photo on the profile.
P2: He's rubbing his nipples. P1: We have a lot of things in common, he
likes Jurassic Park, I like Jurassic Park. Julian: Everybody likes Jurassic Park!
P1: I don't know, his smile is rough, might have to look at that smile for the rest of
my life. Julian: Okay! That's a no!
Julian: Seven! You're just making mincemeat of this challenge!
P2: Okay I like him. We're going to go on a date!
P1: Okay, I'll like him. Julian: You have several matches! You have
a bunch of messages piling up! P3: I know it's embarrassing!
P1: This guy looks cute, but that's a terrible picture. I can't. I'm sorry ten might be pushing
it! P2: Okay, six likes!
Julian: We're at 8! P4: That's 8, yup!
P1: Alright so we'll like him, we're doing good!
P3: He doesn't say anything about himself and I guess it's what the conversation is
for. I'll like it! P4: In Las Vegas, I think that's the last
one! Julian: Nice!
P2: What the hell, he has a beard. I like! Julian: Ten, wait was that a no or a yes?
P5: That's ten? Julian: I think you said no to two.
Julian: When they were done we retested their optimism about dating to see if they felt
their romantic futures looked any brighter. Other than the fact that every single person
loved puppies, after using tinder for twenty minutes we saw an average jump in romantic
optimism of 12 percent with an increase as high as 20 percent. When we gave them a goal
of finding ten people, we incentivized people with a reward system to be more openminded
about who they give the shot to. By having more reasonable standards. Decades of extensive
positive psychology research shows optimism is the key to building resilience. Your ability
to cope with problems and setbacks, which when you think about it is a lot of what dating
is, makes sense. When there is a zilliion other people at the flick of a finger, rejection
doesn't stink so much! The real benefit comes from just playing it for the game it is. A
resilience building exercise that makes romance as winnable as Angry Birds. Because when you
tackle the task of finding love knowing you have a real shot at meeting someone you are
really into, then most likely you will! I'm Julian, and this has been The Science of Love!
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