Tinder is addictive as it's inspired by a psychological experiment

Tinder is addictive because it was inspired by a 1940's psychological experiment that turned pigeons into 'gambling fanatics'.

Tinder executive Jonathan Badeen has admitted basing the dating app's famous 'swipe' mechanic on a classic experiment he studied at university.

In the experiment, American psychologist B.F. Skinner conditioned hungry pigeons to believe that food delivered randomly into a tray was prompted by their pecking.

The pigeons began pecking more in the hopes of earning extra food, essentially turning them into 'gamblers'.

When users swipe right (signalling an interest in the dating app profile) or left (no interest at all) it reinforces a similar behaviour to the psychological experiment.

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