Crushes: Examining Evolutionary Theories in Love Messages

“My thoughts turn towards you, my Immortal Beloved…”-Ludwig Van Beethoven

What? tldr

Well we know men and women are different. But how do they differ in the way they crush on each other? Those messages they send to try to court each other. Which one says love more often? Which one says mentions physical traits more often?


Abstract { scroll past }

Previous research suggests women, when compared to men, value personality traits more when looking for a partner. Men, when compared to women, are more likely to value physical traits when searching for partners. The researcher wanted to determine if these tendencies would surface when examining online infatuation messages or “crushes”. The researcher hypothesized that the most common words in infatuation messages from women would include more words describing one’s personality rather than words describing one’s physique. Additionally, infatuation messages from men would display the opposite, with more of the most common words being words that describe physique rather than personality. To test this hypothesis the researcher gathered 1134 infatuation messages and divided them based on sex. Then, the researcher ran algorithms to determine the most common words for each sex. The results did not support the hypothesis but did provide insight into the different strategies the males and females use to court their potential mates.

Men's Word Cloud



Men's word cloud

Men's Frequency Graph

Men in blue; Women in green








Women's Word Cloud



Women's word cloub

Women's Frequency Graph

Women in green; Men in blue