Religious Women Were More Likely to Swipe Right on Dating Profiles, Study Finds

Religious belief appears to shape how women make snap judgments on dating apps, but not in the way many psychologists expected. New research suggests that more religious women may actually be more open to potential partners during the initial swipe, even as they seek long-term, committed relationships.

The study, titled Holy Swipes: The Influence of Religiosity on Mate Choice in Online Dating, adds nuance to assumptions about religious women’s selectivity. It suggests that faith-linked values may coexist with a broad willingness to explore potential partners, at least at the earliest stage of digital courtship.

Published in Psychology & Sexuality, the research examined how women balance impressions of genetic fitness and willingness to invest when evaluating profiles on swipe-based apps. These platforms compress mate choice into split-second decisions based largely on a single photograph and a short biography.

Previous research has shown that women frequently prefer softer, more feminized male faces over strongly masculine ones. Feminized faces tend to be associated with greater perceived trustworthiness, while more rugged features are often linked with infidelity or lower commitment.

How the experiment was designed

The research team, led by Katherine L. Sheetz and Lisa L. M. Welling of Oakland University, recruited 439 single cisgender women between the ages of 18 and 38 who were primarily attracted to men. Participants completed questionnaires about their religious beliefs and their reasons for using dating apps.

They then took part in a simulated Tinder-style task involving 20 male dating profiles. Each profile featured a smiling headshot and a short biography of up to 500 characters, reproducing the limited information users typically encounter on popular swipe-based platforms.

The photographs were digitally altered so that each man’s face appeared either 50 percent more masculinized or 50 percent more feminized, while identity and skin tone remained unchanged. The biographies were designed to appear either clearly trustworthy or more ambiguous and boastful.

Trustworthy profiles included specific, verifiable information about education and employment and avoided exaggerated claims. The untrustworthy versions used vague job descriptions and inflated achievements, representing a common form of selective self-presentation online.

Participants accepted or rejected each profile, mirroring a right or left swipe. Researchers then examined how facial structure, biography style and religiosity influenced the likelihood that a profile would be accepted for possible future contact.

Facial features and surprising profile choices

As expected, facial appearance had a strong influence on swiping behavior. Men with more masculinized faces had about 56 percent lower odds of being accepted than those with more feminized features, reinforcing previous evidence that women often favor softer male faces.

The written biographies, however, produced a more counterintuitive result. Profiles with untrustworthy, more boastful biographies were approximately 24 percent more likely to be accepted than profiles containing straightforward and verifiable information.

Lead author Lisa Welling noted that the manipulation altered perceptions of trustworthiness in the intended direction. The pattern suggests that women may have been responding to other cues, such as apparent confidence or implied social status, rather than simply preferring less trustworthy partners.

The finding contrasts with some earlier research suggesting that excessive bragging can reduce the desire to contact a profile owner. The authors argue that the difference may arise because rapid swiping decisions are more intuitive and less reflective than deliberate decisions about whether to message someone.

Religiosity and initial receptivity

The most striking finding involved religiosity. The researchers expected more religious women, who typically favor sexual restraint and long-term partnerships, to be more selective. Instead, greater religiosity predicted a higher likelihood of accepting profiles overall.

On the study’s seven-point religiosity scale, each one-unit increase corresponded to roughly 38 percent higher odds of accepting a profile. Welling emphasized that this represents a shift in initial openness rather than a guarantee of more dates or relationships.

In this context, accepting a profile simply meant that the man remained under consideration for possible future contact. It did not necessarily indicate romantic intent, sexual interest or a willingness to take interpersonal risks in the real world.

The authors note that their religiosity measure combined church attendance and community involvement with private beliefs. Social religiosity is often associated with greater generalized trust, which may partially explain the higher initial receptivity among religious participants.

Motivations for using dating apps

The study also explored why women were using dating platforms. Participants who reported stronger motivation to find a committed relationship accepted fewer profiles, with a 38 percent reduction in acceptance odds for each one-unit increase in relationship motivation.

By contrast, using dating apps primarily for entertainment, curiosity or casual exploration did not significantly alter acceptance rates. This supports the idea that mate-search goals can strongly influence how people apply their standards in fast-paced online environments.

The tension between preferring trustworthy long-term partners and accepting confident, boastful profiles suggests that initial swipes may reflect openness more than considered judgment. Later messaging and vetting may help filter out potential partners who are ultimately a poor match.

Limits, context and next questions

The authors stress that a simulated swiping task cannot fully reproduce the complexity of real dating apps, where responses, conversations and social feedback influence behavior. The sample consisted mostly of college-aged women in the United States, so the findings may not generalize to older users or people from different cultures.

Future research could use eye-tracking to determine which parts of a dating profile women examine first and how long they focus on each element. Researchers also hope to separate intrinsic religious belief from social participation to investigate how these dimensions independently influence romantic risk-taking online.

The findings contribute to a broader body of research examining how online dating changes human decision-making. By making early mate evaluation visible and measurable, swipe-based platforms provide an unusual window into the rapid, often subconscious judgments people make about appearance, personality and trust.

Welling argues that the results also highlight an important caution when interpreting psychological traits across different contexts. Characteristics such as religiosity that predict one behavioral pattern, including a preference for long-term relationships, do not necessarily translate neatly into other domains, such as how many profiles someone is initially willing to consider.

Article prepared by Victoria Caldwell.