Why My Twin Brother Gets More Tinder Matches Than Me | Volume 7

First, to my twin brother's fiancé (a loyal subscriber): don't worry, he's not on the dating apps. I was just trying to think of a catchy subject line to lure the people in.

It will all tie in together eventually, don't you worry.

I'm also more of a Hinge guy, but Tinder sounded better.

Ok, that's enough...

Here's what I've been thinking about lately:*

*In addition to "how long until my brother texts me and says, 'what the hell are you writing about'?"

Haven't subscribed? New here? This newsletter, Makes Ya Think, poses questions about human behavior, and hopefully, provides insights that challenge your beliefs, offer a unique perspective and if nothing else...make you think.

Which one suits you?

Consider this example: you have two errands to run today – the first is to buy your favorite cereal. The second is to buy a new suit for work.

At your local grocery store, you spot your favorite cereal for $7. However, as you’re getting ready to place it in the cart, you remember seeing the same cereal on sale for $2 at another store about a 5-minute drive away.

What would you do? If you’re like most people, you pause on buying the cereal and take the trip to save a few bucks.

On errand run number two, you find a slick navy suit for $425 and decide to buy it. But then moments later, another customer lets you know the same exact suit is available for $420 at another store, just about five minutes away.

Do you decide to make this five-minute trip? This time, if you’re like most people, you do not.

What’s going on here?

Five dollars is five dollars, right? Whether the amount from which the five dollars is saved is $425 or $7 should be irrelevant.

But with us humans, it’s not.

It’s all relative.

The human mind tends to look at our decisions in a relative way and compare them to what’s available.

This is why I thought to myself, “it’s only $1,000 more” when looking at cars of $20,000+, but didn’t even consider spending that same $1,000 when considering a higher-quality mattress or office chair (even though I’m going to spend more time on my mattress and chair than my car).

You see, us humans are always looking at things around us in relation to others. This is not only true for physical things – like cars, TV’s, toasters and spouses, but also for experiences – such as jobs and vacations.

Most people don’t really know what they want unless they see it in context.

Suppose a restaurant offers three hamburgers:

• A value burger for $1.99

• A regular burger for $2.99

• A premium burger for $4.59

If you’re like most people, you’ll opt for the regular hamburger, perceiving it to be the best value or price relative to the quality of the burger.

You may say to yourself, “for just a dollar more, I can get a higher-quality burger”. And on the other hand, decide that the premium burger isn’t worth it because of how its price compares to the others.

In fact, Gregg Rapp, a restaurant consultant, has found that high-priced menu items actually boost revenue for the restaurant…even if no one buys them.

Why? Because even though people generally won’t buy the most expensive dish, they’re likely to buy the second most expensive option.

Now, you understand why. By creating the expensive dish, the restaurant lures you into ordering a slightly less costly dish.

We constantly look at things in relation to others.

What does this have to do with Tinder? That subject line was such a tease

Ok ok, sorry for the wait.

But first, to better understand what I mean, let’s take a look at bread-making machines:

When Williams-Sonoma first introduced their $275 home “bread bakery” machine, no one bought them. People just weren’t interested.

To help boost sales, a market research firm suggested this fix: introduce an additional bread bakery model – one that was not only bigger, but 50% more expensive.

The result? Sales began to rise (pun very much intended), but it wasn’t the large bread maker that people were purchasing.

Now that consumers had two options to choose from, they had an easier decision to make. Consumer Bill may have thought to himself, “well, I don’t know much about bread makers, but if I were to buy one, I’d choose the smaller one for less money.”

Turned out, many people thought like Bill. After the launch of the bigger, more expensive bread maker, the smaller one started to fly off the shelves.

Now, finally, let’s take a look at how relativity could play a role in the dating world.

Multiple studies have shown that when given a choice between dating a “regular” person, its inferior version and another “regular” person, people will be more likely to choose the first “regular” person – the one who was similar, but clearly superior to the distorted version.

Why? They had something to easily compare it to.

So, for instance, if you were choosing between Ryan Reynolds, a slightly less attractive Ryan Reynolds (a distorted version that might have included an enlarged eye or tilted nose to alter symmetry) and Ryan Gosling, you are more likely to choose Ryan Reynolds.

I have multiple pictures with my twin on my dating profile. Back when he was on the apps, he did too.

Well, he found love and I’m still single. Am I just my identical twin’s slightly less attractive version?

It makes ya think...*

You see, relativity plays a role in the dating scene too. When going on dates, your potential partner isn't just evaluating you, they're comparing you to their date from last week, all of their exes and the guy or gal they met out at the bar last night.

If you want to get more attention, consider a double date with your less attractive/funny/charming friend. By comparison, you'll look great.

Oh god...this "friend" might be me.

I'm going to hold off on double dates for a while.

And maybe it's time I rethink my main Tinder picture too (sorry, Scott).

* this is a joke mom, don't worry

Tweet I'm Thinking About

I guess you could say I wasn't "up her alley".

Tweet I'm Thinking About

Still waiting on a text back from this one.

Parting Thoughts

Shoutout to my friend Jon for the moral support while writing this newsletter edition. We're out in Park City getting ready to take in the Sundance Film Festival.

And...that's a wrap (signing off like a movie director)

Kevin