A new study held by the University’s Psychology Department has found that more than 90% of female Tinder users in the greater Gainesville area incorrectly hold the belief that liking dogs is a personality trait.
“Our results imply that these women are under the impression that one’s character can be well represented by bland statements of preference that everyone can agree on,” said head researcher Sheana Greyhound. “There are similar assertions that one should ‘swipe right’ if they like such universally acclaimed things as: ‘watching the office,’ ‘eating pizza’ and ‘taking long naps.’”
According to Greyhound’s study, these women also buy or adopt dogs to supplement their own lack of personality. After polling female dog owners in the area, the study revealed that 9/10 women with dogs also ‘love yoga pants,’ ‘are going to Grog later’, and ‘can’t wait for Spring Break’.
“It’s safe to say that young women lacking personality have found dogs to be an excellent way to avoid the realities of becoming a real person,” Greyhound has concluded.
The inspiration for the study came while Greyhound’s team was investigating the dangerously low number of matches for engineering majors. The group noticed that photos with dogs or descriptions mentioning dogs tended to balance out a lack of hobbies or physicial attraction.
“Since we published our findings a few weeks ago, the percentage of dog pictures of Tinder skyrocketed,” said Greyhound. “Apparently taking a picture with a dog is a lot easier than being an interesting, pleasant person.”