In The Paradox of Choice, the psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that infinite choice – whether of mutual funds, breakfast cereals or lovers – is exhausting to the human psyche and leads to greater dissatisfaction. When presented with too many choices, we are not only stunned, like a kid in the proverbial candy shop, but also less satisfied with

Natural rewards, including orgasm, contain a built-in satiety at consummation relying, inter alia, on endogenous opioids. But when we’re stuck in the dopaminergic excitement of seeking, Kringelbach explained, there is no signal telling us when to stop.

One study showed that half of Tinder users had not gone on a single date with a match made on the app.

The matching potential of the genome is not entirely without merit: kissing is hypothesised to be subconsciously used by women to gauge the health and genetic make-up of a potential mate through saliva, as well as for eliciting arousal through the exchange of hormones.

The social psychologist Eli Finkel, the director of the Relationships and Motivation Lab at Northwestern University, believes the future lies in using dyadic data, observing rather than predicting compatibility from an initial interaction. Non-conscious synchrony emerges when two people are interested in one another: within minutes, pupil dilation,

In communities around the world in which there is a surplus, or perceived surplus, of women, men pursue a mating strategy geared towards multiple casual relationships.

With a googol of profiles to get through, 75 per cent of men say they swipe on the basis of only the first photo.

In a study of the most successful words for men to put on an online profile, ‘physically fit’ upped response rate by a whopping 96 per cent;10 in another, the number-one word for men to use on a profile was – wait for it – ‘6ft’.

Trading in insecurities, dating is one of few services in which dissatisfaction leads users to question themselves instead of the product, and even increase spending to up the odds of success.