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Comment by kixiQu | Hacker News Reader

I gotta say this is a tough one just because posing with a cat is such an unnatural thing from the perspective of cat ownership. Guy sitting on sofa with cat lying on the back of the sofa is different from "Here Look At My Cat" guy.

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Yeah, as a fan of cats: these results are exactly as I'd hope.

Cats rarely like being posed with. Neither of those pictures have happy-looking cats. If those are representative images, I'd be ranking less-date-able too, a possible inability to understand their pet is not a positive sign.

Pictures involving a cat willingly snuggling up to the subject may perform very differently. E.g. nearly all of these look good, and showcase very different cat-language: https://welovecatsandkittens.com/cat-pictures/12-adorable-ph...

The paper seems to suggest that those are the only pairs of photos. Yes, they both sort of scream awkward photo at best, cat-prop at worst.

"We compared photos of two men looking fairly relaxed with photos of the same men in a different less open and relaxed pose holding an anxious cat which had never met them before. The results prove that women don't like men with pets."

Supposedly.

Exactly. It’s also pretty clear from their faces that those men are nervous to be holding the cat.

Well, the little tigers can be dangerous and hold pathogenic bacteria in their little claws. You'd be nervous too if that thing could claw at your eye at any moment. Plus they could carry toxoplasmosis and tons of infections picked up from street animals.

Also on those pictures, the guy has is back all hunched and is holding the cat like a doll or a baby. Is it really the cat that give a less attractive vibe or the dorky posture of the guy on the picture?

Would the results be different if cat and man were posed differently?

I suspect that a picture of some guy going hiking with his cat would be seen different from some guy playing dolls with his cat in his apartment.

This reminds of the shirtless / not shirtless studies that use plainly artificial edited in muscles, no scenic background whatsoever (just a wall, not even a basic pool), and are just not generalizable to real (online) dating experiences.

Edit: This is the study. See the supplementary information section at the very bottom is you want to see the photos used.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-022-01278-1

I found it via an article on theguardian.com, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/may/25/keep-yo...

Oh wow those are bad, lol. Almost as bad as those 'shops where you can see the background bending around the inhumanly-shaped waist or butt.

I have to assume the conversation between authors went something like this:

> Muscles look like this, right? https://unbelievab.ly/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/photoshop.j...

> LGTM, ship it

lol yeah you can pretty much tell those authors hadn't ever gotten close to a girl or a gym

then some pop science blog writes about it and the average "i fucking love science" fan can feel good about being doughy and out of shape bc "haha science proves it" (if it sounds like im venting its because i am, i just hate pop science and this is the latest example why)

You're referring to Elizabeth, Morgan and JoAnne?

Also those images in that supplementary PDF are unredacted, with a separate oval superimposed over the face.

My cat is a total lap cat. She would stay there 24/7 if I let her. I do think she likes it but also likes the heat as well lol. Not all cats are hands off. Some like to be around humans too much and can be annoying they are so clingy. I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking photos while doing it, as she doesn't know wtf a photo is.

That's funny you say that. I met my girlfriend on a dating site and I had a photo of myself with my cat laying on the back of the sofa. And I choose that picture on purpose because it always got people excitedly asking about my cat.

So this "shows a guy is undateable" has not been my experience.

I think there is as difference between having the cat in the background and posing with the cat. It's in the same vein of having a photo of your cat on your shirt.

Not the owner of a cat, but yeah I would think the difference here is between:

1) I have a cat.

2) CATS CATS CATTY CAT CATS.

If they rejected you based on your profile, you wouldn't know would you?

>> If they rejected you based on your profile, you wouldn't know would you?

I guess you wouldn't know, but that seems like a good thing.

As a cat-dad, i used to put my cat on some profile photos. Why even bother wasting time on someone who doesn't like cats and/or isn't open-minded to cats? Best to filter them out asap.

Indeed. You'd have to be absolutely desperate. Long term, it makes zero sense to hide fundamentals such as affection for cats... or being a gamer. I know several guys who used to hide the fact they played games competitively. Granted that was almost 20 years ago but still.

But why do you assume that they don't like cats or even have an opinion on them? Most of first glance opinion forming is subconscious or near subconscious. It's less likely to be "I see a cat. I hate cats. Next" and more "Nah, not feeling it. Next".

You might be right. One thing is for sure though, if they actually like cats I assume this would be a big attractor. To flip the script, i'd 10x prefer a profile photo if it had a cat, given I like cats. Of course the two cats would also need to get along. Double date I guess.

You can only date a relatively small number of people. If a photo makes you less attractive to an average potential partner, but more attractive to potential partners who will actually be into you, that’s a huge lever for prequalifying.

Which is to say you should basically always play up your quirks, not hide them.

True but i think the comment you are responding too is commenting that “this was not my experience” can’t be known without more information.

But to your point you only have so much time and it will likely help narrow down better long term partners if your profile is honest

You can get zero matches on tinder - what allows to verify that some things dont work

> Which is to say you should basically always play up your quirks, not hide them.

Not going to lie, I don't think this matters if you're a dude. I found that almost no women I dated even read my profile.

I was always up front about liking video games, board games, tabletop rpgs and the number of times date #1 would end on "You Like Dungeons and Dragons!? Ugh" was higher than not.

I don't mean literally the date ended there, just that there was no chance of a second date after that point.

> You can only date a relatively small number of people.

I think more people need to understand this.

Like, if you sell something used you don’t need to craft the “perfect” ad or get tonnes of exposure on it. You only need to sell one.

As others pointed out, that is different then awkwardly posing with a cat that might now want to be held or looks forced.

That's the same cat posing with two different guys! Obviously a seasoned professional companionship worker.

They should repeat the experiment with cats that look their owners.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/10/purrfec...

Also the photos have completely different compositions.

How do you separate the impact of the cat from the impact of a clear headshot that is front on vs someone sitting awkwardly with one leg up?

From a dating point of view, that’s a pretty important part though (for better or worse). Even before the cat person/dog person angle, there’s allergies and wether the person already has a pet or not.

That could be the underlying masculine message. Posing with a cat can be interpreted as "I can stand razor-sharp claws sinking my flesh and still smile for the picture".

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