The Theory of Tinder

At the heart of Game Theory is the concept of Nash Equilibria, which were first defined by John Nash, (as played by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind*). Simply put, two rational individuals who are playing a game against each other will eventually settle on strategies for which neither player would benefit by a change in their strategy alone. This does not mean that those two strategies necessarily give the best outcome possible for either player (see The Prisoner's Dilemma), just that neither player can get a better outcome by altering how they're playing. These equilibria come naturally from the fact that if either player is in a position where they would benefit by a change in their own strategy, they will make that change because they are trying to win. The other player will then react and this will continue until both players settle on strategies that they both have no motivation to change, given how their opponent is playing the game**.

To look at Tinder from a Game Theory perspective, we simply need to assign payoffs (or costs) to certain actions and outcomes. When I swipe right as fast as I can, I go through approximately one profile per 0.7 seconds, so let's round that up and call the cost of insta-swiping: -1.0 second. Then when I happen to get a match, I actually look at that woman's profile and take the time to consider if I want to message them. If not, I just click "unmatch" and they are then unable to contact me. By always swiping right, I'm only putting in the effort of being selective when a woman has already matched with me, and that's the key.