Do advertised preferences predict the behavior of speed daters?

Because researchers are making increasing use of data gleaned from Internet dating sites, it is important to know if the preferences people specify in Internet advertisements predict the choices that they actually make. HurryDate, a commercial speed‐dating firm, collected data from over 10,000 people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who participated in speed‐dating events in cities across the United States. The present analysis compared these speed daters’ advertised preferences with their decisions to attend particular events and their choices of potential partners at the events they attended. Findings indicated that speed daters’ advertisements reflect frequently replicated sex differences and assortative patterns and that these advertised mate preferences predicted their decisions to attend particular events. Advertised preferences did not, in contrast, substantially predict decisions within events. These results support the conclusion that advertised preferences predict behavior in the mating domain in some contexts but not others.     

WORK VALUE CONGRUENCE AND INTRINSIC CAREER SUCCESS: THE COMPENSATORY ROLES OF LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE AND PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

We hypothesized that leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) would each interact with work value congruence in relation to intrinsic career success. In a sample of 520 teachers from 30 high schools in Turkey, we found that work value congruence was positively related to job and career satisfaction when POS was low but not related to job and career satisfaction when POS was high. Similarly, work value congruence was positively related to career satisfaction when LMX was low but not related when LMX was high. The results contribute to the POS, LMX, and person-organization fit literatures by demonstrating the compensatory nature of LMX and POS for low value congruence in its relation to job and career satisfaction.     

Plans and the Initiation of Social Relationships

Researchers interested in cognitive approaches to relational communication have typically sought explanations for how cognition influences the interpretation of social actions. Few attempts have been made to understand how cognitive structures guide action production. This study extends the work of such researchers by demonstrating the relationship of plans to two social outcomes, loneliness and shyness. College students described how they would request a date from a member of the opposite sex and how they would ingratiate themselves to a new roommate. Each plan was judged for its effectiveness (i.e., likelihood of success) and analyzed for the types of actions represented within it. As hypothesized, loneliness and shyness were inversely related to plan effectiveness in the date-requesting domain for males but not for females. Loneliness and shyness were inversely related to plan effectiveness in the roommate ingratiation situation for both sexes. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of planning and action production in social interactions.