My Best Face

All for science!

I participated in an OK Cupid experiment called My Best Face. The objective is to see which of two photos of me people would choose, and to gain some insight into the types of people who did the choosing. Voters who described themselves as free-spirits, extroverts, and girls 31 and over seemed to like both photos. One photo barely edged out the other in the competition (56 to 55). The winner attracted more artists, divas, dorks, and vegetarians. Hmmm.

Christopher Coyne of OK Cupid described the experiment this way: "How did it work? A group of real humans compared your photos with others', and each time your photo was selected - or not - the information we gleaned was a complex function of how well the opposing photo did in its own report. In other words, we weren't simply counting votes. We considered all the other votes, too, and converged rapidly on your best face."

Here are the results: My Best Face