Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the option that best fits each of the numbered...

Dating applications such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge are now used by millions of people worldwide. As users can construct any version of themselves they wish, one might expect them to present themselves in the most favourable light possible. When creating a profile, it would be natural for them to choose flattering photographs, compose polished and appealing descriptions, and (18) __________ so as to appear more confident, witty and emotionally mature than they are in everyday life. Yet according to recent research, this is not generally what happens. Far from inventing idealised versions of themselves, many users’ profiles reveal their genuine dispositions, and often expose both personal insecurities and ordinary behavioural flaws.

Research was carried out on 280 dating-app users who completed a detailed personality inventory. The results were then compared with the same people’s profiles on major dating platforms. The study aimed to assess not only the participants’ actual personalities, but their “ideal romantic selves” — in other words, (19) __________. These results were then compared with the participants’ dating profiles. What emerged was unexpected: far from being carefully manufactured projections of who they wished to be, (20) __________. Their profiles closely reflected how open, conscientious, sociable and emotionally stable they were in real life.

(21) __________. It may be that users want to present themselves as they truly are, or it may be that they attempt to project a more attractive image of themselves but fail to do so convincingly. One conclusion, however, seems difficult to avoid: dating apps should not simply be seen as deceptive spaces cut off from reality; rather, they are merely another way (22) __________.