This Is the One Characteristic Singles Are Looking for More Than Anything Else

It is an even higher priority than attractiveness, income, or height!

- Veronica Lopez

Remember being little and having a checklist of all the qualities you wanted in your one true love? They had to be attractive, a good kisser, and give you gifts just because. And while sure, those characteristics actually still sound awesome, they are not exactly what singles value most. In fact, according to new research from Hinge, that title goes to (*drumroll please*)...emotional vulnerability. It is *the* most important characteristic singles want from the people they date, and when we say singles, we don’t just mean some singles. We mean basically everyone.

Hinge discovered a whopping 93 percent of daters want to date someone who shows emotional vulnerability, and 61 percent of the people ranked it as a higher priority than attractiveness, income, or height.

And while this all may sound well and good, the same data revealed that only 32 percent of people actually *show* vulnerability on first dates. 75 percent of men say they never or rarely show vulnerability on first dates—worrying that it will be a turn-off. All of this basically means that the most attractive quality is one that most people aren’t down to actually show. Sigh! “When we first meet someone, we are tempted to present an edited, smoothed-out version of ourselves,” explains Hinge’s Director of Relationship Science Logan Ury. “People are worried about making that perfect first impression and think vulnerability will turn their date off.”