*Note: This page is a work in progress. It will be updated in the near future to better describe how the study was conducted.*
*This information was taken from the ethics application, which is why it is written in future tense.*
The study will take place over the course of two sessions in no more than one week. Participants will be told they will be participating in a study involving an online dating website featuring other students at Western University who they will potentially have the opportunity to match with and contact. However, the dating website will be fake, and participants will actually be viewing profile photos sourced from Helen Dataset (Le, Brandt, Lin, Boudev, & Huang, 2012) and public domain images found on Flickr, Pixabay, Max Pixel, and Pexels.
The first session will be conducted online. Participants will access this session via a link to a Qualtrics survey posted to SONA. The Letter of Information and consent form will be at the beginning of the survey. During the first session, participants will fill out several questionnaires, including Self and Partner Standards Scale (Fletcher, Simpson, Thomas & Giles, 1999), Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Mate Value Scale (Edlund & Sagarin, 2014), Mate Value Inventory (short form; Kirsner, Figueredo, & Jacobs, 2003), Adult Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey, Berenson, & Kang, 2006), and a demographics questionnaire that will inquire about subjects such as gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. Participants who indicate on the demographics questionnaire that they do not meet eligibility criteria (e.g., indicate that they are younger than 18, do not speak English fluently, or are currently in a romantic relationship) will exit the survey early after being thanked for their time, then compensated for the first session, and not allowed to participate in the second session. Participants will write a brief profile describing themselves that will purportedly be viewable by people they match with. Participants will be instructed not to include any personally identifiable information in this description (e.g., full name contact info). Profile descriptions will later be coded for personality identifiers by RAs. Participants will also be asked to upload a photo of themselves to a Dropbox folder (they will be unable to see other participants’ uploads). These images will later be rated for physical attractiveness by RAs. Participants will not be told whether they were rated positively or negatively.
Once participants have finished the first part of the study, they will be asked to sign up for the second part, which must take place within one week of the first session. If participants do not sign up for the in-lab session such that it occurs within one week of the first part of the study, they will be sent a debriefing form via SONA that explains the true nature of the study, but is different from the standard debriefing form in a number of ways (e.g., compensation information).
Participants will be sent a reminder through the SONA system to sign up for the second part of the study three days after they participated in the first part of the study.
During the second session, participants will individually be brought into a lab. They will be given access to a computer, where they will begin to explore the alleged online dating website.
First, participants will also be asked to select a preferred gender (male or female) that they would like to date. Participants who choose not to select a gender will be taken to a page where they will be told that male and female are the only options, so they can either have the study be reset, or withdraw. They will then call the research assistant over and have them either reset the survey or stop the study. If the participant says they would like to pick a gender to date, the researcher assistant will set up the survey again. If the participant says they do not want to date either gender, the research assistant will debrief the participant using the same debriefing as someone who did not attend the second session, except they will be compensated with 1 SONA credit.
For participants who do select either men or women, they will be given information about the website and instructed how to use it. An RA will provide some information verbally, but most details will be given on the site itself. Participants will be told they will only view pictures of potential dates, and be given no other information unless they “match” with a person (i.e., they select a person, and that person also selects them). If they “match,” then they will be able to contact the person they matched with. They will also be told that their profile has already been posted to the website, is currently viewable by potential dates, and that more information about matches and selections will be given later. As none of the profiles on the website are real, no matches will occur, and no further information about matching will be provided. Then, participants will view a series of 15 photos of men or women (based on the preference given earlier in the session). These photos will have been pre-rated for physical attractiveness, and will range from very attractive to very unattractive. Participants will only see an image of the person’s face. If a participant is interested in dating the person, they may click on the image. If a participant is not interested, they can move on to the next page. Images will be displayed one at a time and in a random order. While on each profile page, a timer not visible to the participants will be recording how long participants spend viewing the image. After viewing 15 profiles, participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the first condition, participants will be told that 35 people have viewed their profile so far, and 30 of those people have selected them (Low rejection condition). In the second condition, they will be told that 35 people viewed them, and 18 selected them (Medium rejection condition). And in the third condition, they will be told 35 people viewed them, and 5 people selected them (High rejection condition). Participants will not be given information about who these people are. Participants who do not upload a photo to the Dropbox during the first session will not believe the deception, as they will realize that it is not possible for other people on the dating website to have selected them if they never uploaded a photo. Despite this, these participants will be allowed to continue with the study as they otherwise would, but any data related to the rejection manipulation will later be deleted.
After being told how many people are interested in them, participants will be directed to a brief survey. The survey will consist of bogus questions inquiring about how the participant likes the dating website, as well as questions designed to determine current levels of self-esteem, self-perceived mate value, and ideal partner standards. This will be used to determine if there has been a change in these characteristics based on rejection condition. We expect that people will experience a larger decrease in self-esteem, self-perceived mate value, and ideal standards in the high rejection condition than in the medium and low rejection conditions.
After filling out the survey, participants will view another set of 15 pre-rated profile pictures and be able to select the images of people they would be interested in learning more about and contacting. The two sets of 15 photos will be displayed in a random order (i.e., before versus after the rejection manipulation). After viewing the second set of images, participants will fill out another brief survey inquiring about self-esteem, self-perceived mate value, and ideal partner standards. After filling out this final survey, participants will be screened for suspicion, then thoroughly debriefed by a research assistant and informed that the profiles on the website were not from real people, and their own images were never posted to the website. Participants will be told the true purpose of the study and be given the opportunity to have their data destroyed. Any questions participants have will be answered. Participants will have the opportunity to check a box on the online debriefing form to re-confirm consent; if they choose not to re-confirm their consent, their data will be destroyed. Participants will be given a paper copy of the debriefing form to keep that does not have a section for a re-confirmation of consent section. Research assistants will be given a protocol to follow for routine procedures (e.g., giving instructions), as well as what to do if a participant becomes upset or asks questions that could jeopardize the deception. After being debriefed and given the opportunity to re-confirm consent, participants will be offered candy, thanked, and told they are free to leave.
The letter of information indicates that participants will receive a third set of questionnaires two weeks after coming into the lab, but this will not occur. Participants will be told this in order to reinforce the illusion that the dating site is real.
