Websites help find love through science

If finding true love were an exact science,we wouldnt need matchmakers,singles bars or,of course,online dating services.

If finding true love were an exact science,we wouldnt need matchmakers,singles bars or,of course,online dating services. Wed simply take a relationship test,whose results would identify our most compatible types of mates and rule out the frogs.

Of course,Cosmopolitan magazine has been running pop psychology love quizzes for decades,prompting young women the world over to assess how sexually or socially compatible they might be with their objects of desire. Now,a handful of dating websites are competing to impose some science on the quest for love by using different kinds of tests to winnow the selection process.

Instead of using a proprietary algorithm to recommend movies you might enjoy,based on your past choices,these dating sites offer you a list of romantic candidates whose selection is based on proprietary analyses of personality characteristics or biological markers.

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Consider ScientificMatch.com,founded about two years ago,which aims to create romantic chemistry via genetic testing. The site,which matches people based on certain genetic markers for the immune system,takes its cue from studies showing that women are more attracted to the smell of men who have very different immune systems from their own. The site charges $1,995.95 for a lifetime membership the lofty fee includes a cheek swabbing kit,DNA processing,a criminal and bankruptcy background check,as well as verification of age and marital status,the site says.

Then theres Chemistry.com,started in 2006 by the dating giant Match.com. Helen Fisher,the biological anthropologist who developed Chemistry.coms questionnaire,says the site is designed to predict compatibility based on traits of temperament like adventurousness,decisiveness or empathy. And it charges a premium for its services: about $50 for a one-month membership,compared with about $35 for Match.com.

But both ScientificMatch.com and Chemistry.com are refinements of an idea originally developed by eHarmony.com. People who register with the site fill out a questionnaire intended to match people based on similarities in sociological variables like values,family background and social styles. Membership can cost up to $45.95 a month.

But do partner-prediction sites do better at matching people than less-structured dating sites where people select others on their own? EHarmony says it clearly enhances the process by suggesting matches based on areas of compatibility like values,beliefs and important experiences,that are predictors of relationship success. Chemistry.com,meanwhile,suggests partners based on brain chemistry,says Dr Fisher,a professor of anthropology.