The Science of Being Single: Why the Data Disagrees With Your Inner Critic

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

1. 01 What does 'singlism', the term coined by DePaulo and Morris in 2005, describe?

   A clinical fear of commitment found in some single adultsThe stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination directed at single adultsThe rising share of single-person households worldwideA dating strategy of deliberately staying single between relationships

   In 'Singles in Society and in Science' (Psychological Inquiry, 2005), DePaulo and Morris named singlism: the largely unrecognized stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination against single adults, rooted in an unexamined ideology that partnered life is the only fulfilled life. source ↗

2. 02 In the 2008 study by Eastwick, Finkel and colleagues, how did people's actual distress after a breakup compare to what they had forecast?

   It was substantially lower than predictedIt was almost exactly as predictedIt was much worse than predictedIt was lower at first but worse months later

   Students in relationships forecast how distressed they would be if the relationship ended; those who actually broke up during the study were substantially less distressed than they had predicted — a classic affective forecasting error applied to romantic loss. source ↗

3. 03 According to Downey and Feldman (1996), what is rejection sensitivity?

   An accurate radar for detecting partners who will leaveA disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to rejectionThe physical pain response triggered by social exclusionA personality trait that only develops after a first breakup

   Downey and Feldman defined rejection sensitivity as a cognitive-affective disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to rejection — and showed it undermines relationships: rejection-sensitive people read intentional rejection into ambiguous partner behavior, and both partners end up less satisfied. source ↗

4. 04 What did 15 years of German panel data (Lucas et al., 2003) show about happiness after marriage, on average?

   A large, permanent increase in life satisfactionA steady decline in happiness starting at the weddingA small boost followed by adaptation back toward each person's baselineNo measurable change at any point

   Following over 24,000 people for 15 years, Lucas and colleagues found that on average people got a small happiness boost around marriage and then adapted back toward their own pre-marriage baseline — with substantial individual differences, but no large lasting gain for the average person. source ↗

5. 05 What did the 2012 review 'Online Dating: A Critical Analysis' conclude about dating sites' matching algorithms?

   They reliably produce more stable marriages than offline datingTheir claims of superiority lack scientific validityThey work well, but only for users over 40They predict short-term chemistry but not shared values

   Finkel, Eastwick, Karney, Reis and Sprecher reviewed the evidence in Psychological Science in the Public Interest and concluded that dating sites' claims that their algorithms produce superior matches lack scientific validity — no algorithm has been shown to predict long-term compatibility from profile data. source ↗