Displaying Taste Information Reduces Educational Homophily on Online Dating Platforms

Displaying Taste Information Reduces Educational Homophily on Online Dating Platforms | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Displaying Taste Information Reduces Educational Homophily on Online Dating Platforms Masanori Takano, Kazuhiro Kezuka, Hiroki Takikawa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6984397/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Online dating has reshaped the process of partner selection; however, concerns remain that it may reinforce social class divisions by promoting educational homogamy. Conversely, shared tastes can foster connections between social classes. This study examines whether displaying taste information on an online dating platform can mitigate educational assortative mating. We analyzed large-scale user decision logs ($N > 100,000$ decision events) on the Japanese dating site Tapple'' before and after a user interface (UI) change that altered the prominence of users' taste tags, creating a quasi-experimental design. Our analysis revealed that (i) taste similarity significantly predicted match formation, even after controlling for standard attractiveness metrics, and (ii) prominently displaying taste information reduced female users' preference for educationally similar partners, an effect most notable among highly educated women during the accept'' phase of approaches from men. The findings suggest that emphasizing taste information through UI design can be a practical means of reducing educational homogamy and potentially fostering more diverse romantic connections. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Sociology Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. Masanori Takano is an employee of CyberAgent, Inc. (the parent companies of Tapple). There are no patents, products in development, or marketed products to declare. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6984397","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":476971390,"identity":"68f1c269-f6f9-4cee-ba13-68cd59db1c20","order_by":0,"name":"Masanori Takano","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAu0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACxgYgwc/DwHCAgYGNGA3MEC2SPSRrMThDrKN0G/gPfpxRc0fO+Mzhgwc+MPDlEdRidoCZWXLDsWfGZmfbEg7OYGArJkYLg+QDtsOJ287zGBzmYWBLbCDGlp8P/h1O3NzP/4FoLWySG9sOJ27g7WEgWouZ5cy+w8YSZ44ZHJxhQJRfGB/f7Pl2WI6/J/nxhw8VxwiHGIP8A2SewbEEwlrQQA3pWkbBKBgFo2DYAwBSt0BkiaxacwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4354-0619","institution":"CyberAgent (Japan)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Masanori","middleName":"","lastName":"Takano","suffix":""},{"id":476971391,"identity":"9e28b8b2-9242-4c7a-867d-c2e40fe5c4a4","order_by":1,"name":"Kazuhiro Kezuka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kyushu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kazuhiro","middleName":"","lastName":"Kezuka","suffix":""},{"id":476971392,"identity":"a36b450f-12e5-491a-a3e9-6878b8d3ce3b","order_by":2,"name":"Hiroki Takikawa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hiroki","middleName":"","lastName":"Takikawa","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-26 14:31:37","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6984397/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6984397/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":86246517,"identity":"f584d652-21bb-4d65-94ac-a52cc2971593","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-08 11:43:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":754172,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"manutakano.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6984397/v1_covered_47fb59e4-5c79-4942-87e5-80be135282eb.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nMasanori Takano is an employee of CyberAgent, Inc. 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