New research published in Computers in Human Behavior sheds light on the most effective pick-up lines to use on dating platforms such as Tinder. The findings indicate that women tend to prefer receiving pick-up lines that contain either humor or a compliment.
“My co-author, Robert Robbins (who was my graduate advisee when the research was conducted), was really interested in this topic. He used Tinder to date and noticed that the outcomes were different when he used different opening lines to chat with others. That made us wonder about how dating profiles and pick-up lines influenced dating outcomes,” explained Minhao Dai, an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University and the corresponding author of the study.
In the study, 237 heterosexual Tinder users between 18 and 24 years old viewed an opposite-sex profile along with one of four pick-up lines. The participants then answered a series of questions about the person featured in the profile, including their desire to date the person as a long-term or short-term partner.
One pick-up line was complimentary but not humorous: “You have a very nice smile.” Another pick-up line was a humorous but not complimentary: “Do you have any raisins? No? How about a date?” The third pick-up line was both complimentary and humorous: “Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only 10 I see!” Finally, the fourth pick-up line was a generic greeting: “Hey! What’s up?”
The researchers found evidence that the pick-up lines with either humorous or complimentary content were better received by women than the generic greeting. The pick-up line with both humorous and complimentary content, however, was not well received by female participants.
“For a successful dating experience, do not use ‘cheesy’ or ‘cliché’ pick-up lines. Simple humor or a simple compliment works well. However, when you cramp too much into one pick-up line, Tinder daters, especially female users, found it off-putting,” Dai told PsyPost.
Among men, however, the pick-up lines appeared to have no impact. Perceived physical attractiveness — based on the photo attached to the Tinder profile — was the only predictor of both long-term and short-term dating intentions among male participants.
“Since the article was published, I have gotten many questions and comments from the press and people interested in the nature of the profile pictures,” Dai added “Many were curious about whether and how different types of profile pictures would make a difference in Tinder dating. We collected new data on that, and hopefully, we would share the interesting new findings on that soon.”
“I am glad we can conduct research relevant to people’s dating life and show that you can use scientific research methods to answer everyday life questions, such as what kind of profile picture to use on Tinder.”
The study, “Exploring the influences of profile perceptions and different pick-up lines on dating outcomes on tinder: An online experiment“, was published December 16, 2020.