Shirtless pics on Tinder? We test it scientifically!
How using a shirtless pic impacts your online dating success.
Author: Chris Blonk
Using shirtless pics on Tinder and other dating apps; Is that a good idea? OkCupid published some internal studies regarding showing off your abs. They took thousands of profiles of shirtless and shirt-wearing men in their photos, and then they measured how many women they were able to meet per attempt. They found that the group of men who posted at least one shirtless pic had more success meeting women than those who did not, but that this trend diminishes as the women get older. What is wrong with their study, and can we do a better one?
The problem with OKCupid's study
When we compare two groups in a correlational study, it is best if these two groups are otherwise quite similar. That is to say, optimally they would have taken their users and randomized some men to post shirtless photos and some men to post photos with clothes on. They didn't do this and that’s a problem. Who do you think posts shirtless pictures? Probably men who are already in good physical shape, and therefore also more attractive than men who prefer to wear clothes. So we can't know if shirtless men were more successful because they were shirtless in the photos, or if they were just better looking and in better physical shape than the control group.
Experiments are better than a correlational study
An experiment can give us a better answer as to whether shirtless photos are better. We can control all variables, and only change the one variable we are looking for. So that's what we've done. We carried out a study, where we compare a picture of a shirtless person with the same picture with a white neutral t-shirt on.
Test environment
We used Photofeeler.com as a test environment. This site is known for using real people to rate your photos. You can choose the age and gender of the test group, and you can choose how many test subjects you want. The images are assessed with dating in mind, and the ladies score the image based on three factors: smart, trustworthy, and attractive.
Subjects
200 women aged 25 - 34. The images were tested at different times of the day to hopefully rule out the possibility that the same women evaluated both images.
Null hypothesis
It does not matter if you are shirtless or not. The ladies think you look equally attractive, smart, and trustworthy both whether you wear a t-shirt or go bare-chested.
The images used
The image is what we think is an optimal situation for a shirtless image. The subject is on the beach, a place where it is normal to go without clothes, and he is in very good physical shape. It is important to think about the limitations here. We could get different results if the person was in a different setting, had a different facial expression, or was in a different shape. The image is also assessed in isolation, and not as part of an entire profile with several different images. This is therefore not a perfect study either but it is intended to contribute constructively to the debate through the use of data. The shirtless photo is unedited, and the photo with a t-shirt on is edited to look like the person is wearing a neutral, white t-shirt. The original image was obtained from Unsplash, under a creative commons license.
Results
Confidence intervals
Simply explained, there is a 95% chance that the numbers fall within these scores if we tested the images on many thousands.
T-shirt:
Smart: 4.4 - 5.3
Credible: 3.9 - 4.8
Attractiveness: 7.2 - 8.3
Shirtless:
Smart: 3.4 - 4.3
Credible: 3.5 - 4.3
Attractiveness: 6.7 - 8.0
What do the numbers mean?
When it comes to attractiveness and credibility, there is no statistically significant difference between the images. We therefore cannot conclude that a woman thinks a person looks more attractive shirtless compared to wearing a t-shirt in their dating photo. Nor can we say that being bare-chested makes you look more or less trustworthy. 200 women took part in this test, and we could see a difference if we asked more people. When it comes to the "smart" category, there is a statistically significant difference. In this case, the women consider the person who has a shirtless photo to seem less smart than if he is wearing a t-shirt. Although there is not a statistically significant difference between the two of the variables we measure, the shirtless image still scores worse in our test in all three categories. The null hypothesis is true when it comes to attractiveness and trustworthiness. But it is disproven when it comes to the impression of being “smart”. To put it shortly, women think you look dumber when you use a shirtless photo.
What women say about the pictures
On Photofeeler, women can also give quick comments on the photos. They can choose from around 30 different quick comments. 10 women gave the feedback "would prefer less skin showing", meaning that they wanted him to show less skin, in the shirtless photo.
Our recommendation
Our recommendation is not to use shirtless pics on tinder. Not even in those cases where you’re on the beach and you have a very well-trained body. We know it can seem tempting to those who exercise and eat right to be in great shape, but it doesn't seem to offer any advantage over wearing a simple T-shirt. In our opinion, it is not worth it to appear less intelligent if you do not appear more attractive either.
