Is that Eysenck in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me ? The replication of a quantification of chat up lines with the added variable of personality

Abstract

Bale et al’s (2006) questionnaire concerning the effectiveness of chat-up line styles was repeated to test its reliability in a non-student sample, assess the validity of Miller’s Mating Mind (2001) and to observe correlations between participants’ personality and chat-up line preference. 200 questionnaires were received from student (N=125) and nonstudent (N=79) populations, consisting of Bale et al’s assessment, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised short scale (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1991) and a Dating Partner Preference Test (DPPT), developed from Tombs and Silverman (2004) which was later omitted. Chat-up line categories were ranked in the same order found by Bale et al, and similar factors of “one-linedness” and “efficacy” were extracted. allowing results to be cautiously generalized to non-students. Reproductive advantages such as character and wealth are important in chat-up lines, but the communication of these resources is equally important, supporting Miller’s Mating Mind. Psychoticism related negatively to the factor of efficacy and the categories of character and culture, and positively to the sex category, possibly because high psychoticism scorers are prone to impulsive sexual behaviour. Neuroticism was negatively correlated with the sex category, possibly due to high rejection sensitivity Problems of relevance and experimenter bias existed in the nonstudent population. Future research could make interactions more realistic, allowing progress to be made between trait and social psychologists.