Who's Lying on Dating Sites?

Lies and dating. They've always gone together like birds of a feather. But lying has gotten even easier with the anonymity of online dating. So who's really lying on dating sites and what lies are they telling?

Jeffrey Hall of the University of Kansas surveyed more than 5,000 members of a national Internet matchmaking service. His study found that men admit lying more overall and women are most likely to lie about weight.

"What people lie about depends on what kind of people they are," Hall said in a statement. "For example, if you're an extrovert, you might downplay the number of past relationships you've had because chances are you've had more relationships than an introvert."

Those most likely to lie during online dating experiences are "high self-monitors," people who have an acute sense of what people like and who control their behavior to achieve social ends -- not necessarily to be manipulative, but from a desire to be liked and to fit in, Hall said.

The study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, found that since online daters hope to meet face-to-face eventually, the amount of lying is quite small.

"Online daters shouldn't be concerned that most people are presenting a false impression of themselves," Hall said. "What influences face-to-face dating influences the online world, too."