Your dating type exists, here’s how to find it!
Last Update : July 10, 2019 by Noah
Having a dating type, is it a myth?
According to a new research, the answer is no!
Attracting of feeling attracted to a certain type of person is a very common conversation among singles.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Who hasn’t heard the stories of a friend that seems to date (unsuccessfully) the same type of person? Maybe you’ve even questioned yourself about your tendencies to feel attracted to the same kind of person, or to seem to always attract people with common characteristics.
You’re not alone!
The thing is that there’s more on dating types than what meets the eye at first. Dating type is not exclusively about the physique (we get it, you might be attracted to bearded and tall men), but it goes further. When people talk about their dating type, they tend to associate it with a personality type.
So, if there’s a dating type, what’s yours?
This new research has the answer for you!
Finding your dating type: how does it work?
One of the most interesting conclusions of the study on dating types published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the fact that it seems that we tend to date people similar to our exes.
Wait, what?
It might be shocking at first but let us explain the research:
The study analyzed interviews taken to hundreds of people, including their current and former partners, and the conclusion was clear:
Yes, we do have a dating type and we tend to date people similar to our exes.
At this point, you might be thinking about the commonalities of your exes, and perhaps you’re finding it really hard to find what they could really have in common.
This is how the research found out about the dating type of a person.
How to identify your dating type
During the interviews, the participants were asked to describe the psychological traits of their partners based on the so-called “Big five personality traits”.
A very famous and effective dating questionnaire used by some of the best dating sites to determine your matches.
The “big five” personality traits take into account the agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience on a scale of 1 to 5 in which they had to state how much they agreed with certain statements.
(if you’re curious about how this personality test works, we recommend you to register to EliteSingles for free and pass the personality test!).
So what did that study suggest?
You guessed it: that we definitely do have a consistent and recurrent dating type!
Finding a match through your dating type?
As we mentioned, the results of the study suggest our partner’s personalities tend to follow a clear pattern, in which case: how can you ever learn from a breakup?
That’s where it becomes even more interesting. According to the findings, there’s a positive perspective on following a clear pattern of a dating type when in a relationship and that is that you can use the communication strategies you learned in your past relationships and they’ll work in your current relationship.
So, does that mean that if you’ve had toxic exes you’re doomed?
Not at all!
According to one of the researchers, “using that knowledge can improve your relationship quality (…) plus the sense of familiarity can also facilitate the couple’s bonding”.
So what’s the overall conclusion of this study?
You do have a dating type that you can easily identify thinking about the big 5 personality traits of your exes.
Once you’ve identified it, no need to panic. You’re not doomed to toxic people!
Instead, accept your dating type and reframe it a little. Leave out the bad parts and look for the nice ones.
Good luck!