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The View from The Shard Social Experiment

Britons are famed for their stiff upper lip, yet when it comes to matters of the heart we’re hopeless romantics. A recent survey conducted by The View from The Shard found that 3 in 5 Brits believed in ‘love at first sight’.

New findings from the viewing platform at the top of Europe’s tallest building has revealed Britons make their mind up about a potential suitor within just 20 seconds. 90% of people think it is possible to make a good impression within 30 seconds, and a staggering 96% of people think first impressions are important.

To see if the path to true love really is this fast, The View from The Shard invited a group of men and women to quite literally speed date their way up to Level 69, via the attraction’s high-speed lifts. The men had just 60 seconds - the time it takes to travel from the bottom to the top of The Shard - to impress the lucky ladies. Successful matches ended up with a first date 800ft above London!

So, was it love at first sight? Perhaps for one couple (pictured). The experiment did prove how important first impressions are and just how hard a good first impression is to make. The girls and guys stumbled through awkward moments, a surprising amount of cheese jokes and multiple lift journeys before finding a positive match. What became apparent is that a sense of humour and finding someone instantly attractive is crucial in today’s dating world.

Living in an age where dating involves swiping your way through hundreds of filtered photos, the research reveals that laughing is the key to someone’s heart, with having a sense of humour being listed as the biggest turn on for men and women (62%), closely followed by a nice smile (57%).

When it comes to the biggest turn- offs, 7 – in - 10 cite poor hygiene and over 3 in 5 state a lack of manners. A disinterested date (43%) and one who fails to ask questions and listen (46%) are sure fire ways to take yourself out of the running for a second date. Despite people claiming that a sense of humour is the biggest turn on, when it comes to making a good impression themselves, (71%) of people said that they dress nicely, followed by (51%) of people who try to make their date laugh.

Britons are also partial to conducting a little social surveillance ahead of the big night, with (62%) admitting they look up their love interest on social media channels prior to the first date. However, with so much emphasis on first impressions, (67%) admit they felt they had judged a date too quickly in the past.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Newmar .