Dating services appear everywhere from computer advertisements to television commercials and are used by thousands of people each day. Some students, however, remain skeptical.

Some Web sites, such as www.myspace.com and www.facebook.com, offer a space to list relationship status and what type of relationship someone may be looking for.

The Web site www.match.com offers searchable personality profiles for members to browse through.

In addition, www.eharmony.com advertises profiles matching people on personality dimensions, including values, character and intellect.

These sites provide people with an alternate means of face-to-face meetings and dating.

“In terms of matching people, they are matching people on similarities from self-reported data to what other people are looking for,” said Kristian Veit, a teacher’s assistant for personality psychology.

As far as accuracy of these assessments, no measure is perfect because personality is incredibly complex, but some tests are more accurate than others, Veit said.

The use of dating service Web sites does not seem to interest some students.

“I think people who use [dating sites] are kind of desperate,” said Erin Stoddard, a sophomore business major. “But, at the same time, you can get to know people online without all the pressure, and it is not as tense. Plus, you can find out if a person is a jerk before going out with them.”

Other students see no positives in using the sites.

“No other type of interaction, computer dating services or otherwise, beats the bare simplicity and honesty that meeting and interacting with someone provides,” said William Seemann, a senior applied computer science major.

Some think there are benefits to the use of these sites, even if a relationship does not develop.

“[Dating services] present another option and even allow you to know your personality better,” Veit said. “It is a valuable knowledge to know where you stand on a personality trait.”

Personality measures also have been used in job selection, school selection, conflict resolution and career counseling, among other uses.