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In-Person and Virtual Dates are Comparable, But People Don’t Know It

Elina Moreno et al.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin2026https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251409231article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Virtual dating has become popular, but how do people feel about potential romantic partners on virtual versus in-person first dates? In Study 1, a sample of online participants predicted that in-person dates would be markedly better than virtual dates. Study 2 examined whether this prediction received support in a dataset of 4,542 real-life blind dates. We examined first-date outcomes (e.g., date enjoyment and attraction) and partner trait-perceptions (e.g., ambitious and confident) reported after each date. In-person dates were generally longer, but otherwise, virtual and in-person dates were highly similar across the full sample, and virtual dates outperformed in-person dates when controlling for date length. We conducted a one-with-many Social Relations Model analysis on a subsample of Study 2 daters (n = 1,833 dates) and documented a modest amount of actor and partner variance, and a large amount of relationship variance. Virtual dates may be an underappreciated screening strategy for potential partners.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251409231

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@article{elina2026,
  title        = {{In-Person and Virtual Dates are Comparable, But People Don’t Know It}},
  author       = {Elina Moreno et al.},
  journal      = {Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251409231},
}

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In-Person and Virtual Dates are Comparable, But People Don’t Know It

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.