Paradoxical Way for Losers in a Dating Game

Abstract

We study the dating market decision problem in which men and women repeatedly go out on dates and learn about each other. We consider a model for the dating market that takes into account progressive mutual learning. This model consists of a repeated game in which agents gain an uncertain payoff from being matched with a particular person on the other side of the market in each time period. Players have a list of preferred partners on the other set. The players that reach higher rank levels on the other set preferences list have also higher probability to be accepted for dating. A question can be raised, as considered in this study: Can the less appreciated players do better? Two different kinds of dating game are combined "a la Parrondo" to foster the less attractive players. Optimism seems to be highly recommendable, especially for losers.