Hot or Not? Implicit and Explicit Attitudes of Sexualized Profiles on Tinder

Research on dating applications relies heavily on explicitly measured evaluations of potential partners; however, the quick swiping mechanism of Tinder and other popular dating applications may rely on more spontaneous evaluations. We asked heterosexual U.S. undergraduates (<i>n</i> = 135) to rate opposite-gender Tinder profiles using both an implicit reaction time task and explicit self-report. Men had more positive implicit evaluations of sexualized profiles compared with women. Men also showed an implicitly measured preference for sexualized profiles over nonsexualized profiles, while women showed the opposite preference. However, the genders did not differ in evaluation of sexualized or nonsexualized profiles in explicitly measured evaluations. This study highlights the value of using implicit measures when conducting research on mobile dating.