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First Impressions teaches you how to date

Suppose you use one of these online dating services to find a date. What do you do next? Traditional advice is to "just be yourself."

Featured in an article at MSNBC today is a company by the name of First Impressions. You pay them $195, and you get to go on a simulated date with one of their trained psychologists.

“We’ve researched carefully what behaviors are more widely appealing to others,” [First Impressions co-founder Ann] Demarais said. “I could say, ‘Look, you might be quirky and off from the norm, and I like that,’ and so I give you a positive rating. But that wouldn't be as valuable than to say, for example, that this [behavior] is more universally appealing and you're not doing that all the time — are you aware of that? Is that the image you want to project?”

So if you're tired of just being yourself, First Impressions will help you to act like somebody else.

The MSNBC article also features other "quirky matchmaking services."

posted June 25, 2004