Partnership research is not just highly interesting for dating agency managers but also for you: Learn not only a lot about your personality and your chances and risks in a relationship but finally understand what’s behind all this "psychological hocus-pocus"!

The Theoretical Concept:

The online dating agency is based on mate selection models of the partnership research. This is often different to the matching systems that you would see on online dating personals, as they often focus the kind of preferences a person has, rather than innate personality traits.

The three most important models are:

• "Personality types and mate selection" according to Carl Gustav Jung,
• "MBTI - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" and
• "Five Factor Model" as the basis for mate selection.

In the following we will briefly outline and explain those complex sounding models:

A) "Personality types and mate selection" according to Carl Gustav Jung

• - Jung divides people into eight different types: the director, the motivator, the inspirer, the counsellor, the supporter, the coordinator, the perceiver and the reformer.
• - The director is understood as a person that likes being top dog. The motivator is particularly good at sparking people. The inspirer is very creative and inspires others with good ideas. The counsellor has a sympathetic ear for others and can always offer good advice. The supporter always takes a backseat and helps other people. The coordinator has many contacts and tries to connect them. The perceiver stays in the background and prefers to observe everything from afar. At last, there is the reformer with decided opinions which s/he likes to communicate to others.
• - Jung establishes the theory that opposites attract. According to him the following types go particularly well together:
  1. Reformer + counsellor
  2. Director + supporter
  3. Motivator + coordinator
  4. Inspirer + perceiver

B)"MBTI - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator"

This model is also based on the calculation of opposites. The are the following classification in this model:

• Introversion vs. Extraversion
• Intuition vs. Sense
• Feeling vs. Thinking
• Judging vs. Perceiving

This simplified model underlies many questionnaires. Illustrating it in more detail would go beyond the scope of this article. But you have already gained a rough insight now.

C)- Big5-/Five Factor Model as basis for the partner search

The Five Factor Model is quite a simple model and is also based on opposites. In this theory there are five opposite pairs:

• Openness (inventive, curious) vs. taciturnity (consistent, cautious)
• Conscientiousness (efficient, organised) vs. irresponsibility (easy-going, careless)
• Extraversion (outgoing, energetic) vs. introversion (solitary, reserved)
• Agreeableness (friendly, compassionate) vs. suspicion (cold, unkind)
• Neuroticism (sensitive, nervous) vs. optimism (secure, confident)

The exciting thing about the Big5 Model is that empiric partner research has intensively tried to clarify in how far personality traits correlate with the happiness of a relationship. The following correlations could be determined in the field of partner search:

• The happiness of a relationship can only develop if neither of the two partners feels treated unfairly or overlooked. And if one does, even the profiteer (e.g. the more assertive one) would suffer from fear of being abandoned.
• The happiness of a relationship significantly depends on the two personalities: Independently of the partner choice, kind and non-neurotic types are a lot happier with their relationship.
• Overall, there are no tendencies that singles with opposite personality traits attract.
• EST-Men (extroverted/sensitive/thinking) are frequently getting married to INF-women (introverted/intuitive/feeling).
• ENF-women (extroverted/intuitive/feeling) are usually the best choice for men.