The words to never use on your dating profile, according to research
These are the adjectives to avoid when trying to find a match
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The hours we spend perfecting our dating profiles - from taking the most flattering photos to acing a snappy bio - could be a waste of time if we use just one of the words found to be among the biggest turnoffs in a new study.
Men and women who describe themselves as “happy” or “shy” on dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and Happn, risk putting off potential matches, according to research involving 400,000 dating profiles on a website used for extramarital hookups.
Using the word "confident", however, ranked highly for men and women, as well as “honest” according the research seen by MailOnline.
In contrast, 0.3 per cent of men and 0.4 per cent of women were turned on by a person who described themselves as “happy”.
And while the word “honest” was seen as positive for women - with 13 per cent saying this is a key trait in a partner - “trust” or “trustworthy” wasn’t.
Terms including “humorous”, “intelligent”, “romance” and “affectionate” were also winners for both genders.
The survey carried out by the dating website Illicit Encounters, followers a study of 316 online daters by the University of Iowa which looked at how the content of a person’s dating profile affects their chances at finding a match.
Researchers found that people who appeared to have a highly curated online images and bragged about their appearance and their lives were see as less attractive and trusthworthy.
Separate studies have also found that exaggerating apparently positive traits online is highly common. Researchers have coined this behaviour: “profile as promise”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments