Trivia Tuesday: Speed Dating
April 13th, 2010 |Pretty much everyone has heard of speed dating, but did you know that SpeedDating® is actually a registered trademark? It belongs to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo, who started the practice only 12 years ago in Los Angeles, California. The Rabbi started this ’round robin dating’ for Jewish singles, and it has obviously spread to the rest of the community.
The traditional speed dating set-up has the women seated, while the men moved from woman to woman. This might seem like an arbitrary choice, but it probably had to do with women taking slightly longer to move between each man (gathering up their purse or belongings). What’s interesting is that this position can actually have an effect on interaction – a common impression is that women are pickier than men, but observation of speed daters noted that it was the seated person that was more selective, regardless of gender. The act of approaching or being approached has a psychological effect that either makes one feel like they’re going after someone desirable (why else would we be “pursuing” him/her?), or are desirable because someone is approaching them.
Also, should you go speed dating, keep in mind the most common lie (fib) of each gender: women lie about their weight, men lie about their height.
sources:
- http://www.speeddating.com/history.php
- http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/03/the-road-to-romance.html
- http://www.originaldating.com/HistoryofSpeeddating.htm
- Saccuzzo, Dennis. Class Lecture. Personality Psychology. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. 6 April 2010.
- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolved-primate/200910/the-science-speed-dating-part-ii
