Oh look, it’s the thing I’ve plausibly done the best research on out of all humans on the planet (if there’s something better out there pls link). To summarize:
Using data from six different pickup artists, more here. My experience with ~30 dates from ~1k approaches is that it’s hard work that can get results, but if someone has another route they should stick with that.
(The whole post needs to be revamped with a newer analysis written in Squiggle, and is only partially finished, but that specific section is still good.)
And if numbers from pickup artists who actually practice this stuff look like 5%-ish, then I’m gonna go ahead and say that “men should approach women more”, without qualification, is probably just bad advice in most cases.
EDIT-TO-ADD: A couple clarifications on what that graph shows, for those who didn’t click through. First, the numbers shown are for getting a date, not for getting laid (those numbers are in the linked post and are around 1-2%), so this is a relevant baseline even for guys who are not primarily aiming for casual sex. Second, these “approaches” involve ~15 minutes each of chatting, so we’re not talking about a zero-effort thing here.
then I’m gonna go ahead and say that “men should approach women more”, without qualification, is probably just bad advice in most cases.
I’m in a pretty different context than you but like, you’ll learn more about yourself and others if you do this. More data at zero cost (once you internalise the thing about rejection being fine actually).
Relevant addition: Tappé et al. 2013 find a rate of ~60% “yes” responses for real-world experiments for the question “I have been noticing you around campus. I find you very attractive. Would you go out with me tonight?”
My best guess is that those numbers are inflated, for multiple reasons:
Experiment was ended upon receiving an answer to the question, i.e. “yes” or “no” or probably “something else”
This contrasts with the PUA data, which records if women actually show up.
Experiment was done on randomly selected people, whereas the pickup artist data is on the women the guys were attracted to.
The experiment was done on a campus, so there was some level of pre-selection present.
My guess would be that the study has a bunch of social desirability thrown in there, possibly also influenced by how startled the women were.
Oh look, it’s the thing I’ve plausibly done the best research on out of all humans on the planet (if there’s something better out there pls link). To summarize:
Using data from six different pickup artists, more here. My experience with ~30 dates from ~1k approaches is that it’s hard work that can get results, but if someone has another route they should stick with that.
(The whole post needs to be revamped with a newer analysis written in Squiggle, and is only partially finished, but that specific section is still good.)
You are a gentleman and a scholar, well done.
And if numbers from pickup artists who actually practice this stuff look like 5%-ish, then I’m gonna go ahead and say that “men should approach women more”, without qualification, is probably just bad advice in most cases.
EDIT-TO-ADD: A couple clarifications on what that graph shows, for those who didn’t click through. First, the numbers shown are for getting a date, not for getting laid (those numbers are in the linked post and are around 1-2%), so this is a relevant baseline even for guys who are not primarily aiming for casual sex. Second, these “approaches” involve ~15 minutes each of chatting, so we’re not talking about a zero-effort thing here.
I’m in a pretty different context than you but like, you’ll learn more about yourself and others if you do this. More data at zero cost (once you internalise the thing about rejection being fine actually).
Relevant addition: Tappé et al. 2013 find a rate of ~60% “yes” responses for real-world experiments for the question “I have been noticing you around campus. I find you very attractive. Would you go out with me tonight?”
My best guess is that those numbers are inflated, for multiple reasons:
Experiment was ended upon receiving an answer to the question, i.e. “yes” or “no” or probably “something else”
This contrasts with the PUA data, which records if women actually show up.
Experiment was done on randomly selected people, whereas the pickup artist data is on the women the guys were attracted to.
The experiment was done on a campus, so there was some level of pre-selection present.
My guess would be that the study has a bunch of social desirability thrown in there, possibly also influenced by how startled the women were.
Wow. This must be the pickup equivalent of cold call telemarketing.