Scientist shocked that people lie on dating sites

Robert Epstein said that more than 90 per cent of online daters lie about something in their profiles. He points to research from Michigan State University which shows that the shorter and heavier people tend to tell bigger lies about themselves.

Men tend to overestimate their height by about an inch and women understate their weight more as they get older. A woman in her 20s will take off five pounds, while a woman in her 30s will subtract 17 pounds.

Surprisingly, only 13 per cent of men will be married and say they are single, but they will lie about their educational level, income, height, and age. Women will lie about their weight, physical appearance and age.

Epstein's research confirms that people who do not post a picture are wasting their time as no-one bothers looking at those who don't. He thought it interesting that only one per cent of people thought they were unattractive.

Apparently watch for women who say their ages are 29 or between the ages of 30 and 34. For some reason there is a spike in the number of people who claim to be this age which is unlikely statistically.

Epstein thinks this is because people who claim those ages are more frequently making it up. Certain numerical ages are especially appealing, presumably because our culture attaches less stigma to those ages, he said.

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