ITHACA, N.Y., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Those seeking love online, or at least a date, usually fib about either their height or weight, and sometimes their age, says a U.S. study.
Using a new method that measured the actual difference between profile information and reality, men systematically overestimated their height, while women more commonly underestimated their weight, said lead author Jeffrey Hancock, a communications expert. "Surprisingly, age-related deception was minimal and did not differ by gender."
About 52.6 percent of the men in the study lied about their height, as did 39 percent of the women, said Hancock.
Sixty-four percent of women lied about their weight compared to 60 percent of the men. When it came to age, 24.3 percent of the men were untruthful, compared with 13.1 percent of the women.
What constituted a lie? For height, the discrepancy had to be greater than half an inch; for weight, the deviation had to be greater than 5 pounds; and for age, there had to be a difference of a year.
The findings are scheduled to be published in the Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction in April.
