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Researchers once gave singles more than 100 questionnaires before they participated in speed dating.
They then used machine-learning methods to predict attraction.
The models could predict some general tendencies—such as who tended to be desirable to other people.
But they couldn't reliably predict unique attraction between two particular individuals before those people actually met.
That's a major distinction.
A dating app can know your personality, preferences, interests, and ideal-partner characteristics and still struggle to know exactly who will create chemistry with you.
Some information apparently doesn't exist until two people actually interact.
Sometimes you have to meet before either of you can discover whether there's a spark.
© Psychological Science (2017)