My motivation for conducting this study, presented as a research question, is to explore: What are the pre-match impression management practices of Tinder users? For this paper, I draw on the impression management literature, keeping in mind the relevance of a technologically mediated dating environment. Interview analysis is followed by a conclusion and discussion.

Impression management on dating apps

Goffman ( 1959 ) classically argues that individuals attempt to control or guide others’ impressions by manipulating setting, appearance, and behavior. According to Leary and Kowalski ( 1990 ), there are two key processes in impression management. First, there is impression motivation, ‘when people become motivated to engage in particular self-presentation behaviors’ (Leary, 1995 , p. 53). Past research has established that in the context of mediated dating environments, users are highly motivated to control the impression they create (Ellison et al., 2012; Koestner Wheeler, 1988 ; Kramer Winter, 2008 ; Toma, Hancock, Ellison, 2008 ; Zytko et al., 2014 ). This high motivation can be illustrated in how users are sometimes tempted to present themselves in idealized ways. For example, researchers have found that women have the tendency to decrease their reported weight, while men increase their reported height, and men are more likely to exaggerate their income levels (Feingold, 1990 ; Gonzales Meyers, 1993 ; Hall et al., 2010 ; Harrison Saeed, 1977 ; Toma Hancock, 2010 ). (more…)