Will You Go on a Date with Me? Predicting First Dates from Linguistic Traces in Online Dating Messag

Huang, S. A., & Hancock, J. T. (2022). Will You Go on a Date with Me? Predicting First Dates from Linguistic Traces in Online Dating Messages. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 41(4), 371–395

Abstract

From conveying intimacy (“I like you”) to irritation (“stop messaging me!”) and dissatisfaction (“I don’t think we’ll work out”), language use plays a fundamental yet often overlooked role in the initiation of relationships. In online dating, daters exchange messages to determine how interested they are in a partner and whether they would like to go on a first date with them. In two studies, we examined whether linguistic features present in online dating messages can predict whether a first date took place. In Study 1, we identified five interpersonal processes related to first date outcomes: investment, interdependence, emotional dynamics, decision-making, and coordination. In Study 2, we tested our hypotheses generated from Study 1 on a new dataset. Our results suggest that certain linguistic features within online dating messages can be used to predict above chance the likelihood of going on a first date.

Core Concepts and Variables

Overall flow: use lingustic variables to predict whether the conversation will leads to a date

Investment

Amount of time and effort in messages correspond to likelihood of going on a first date.

• Word Count

• Words per sentence

Interdependence / Pronoun

State of interdependence through pronouns usage. "We" indicates growing interdependence, "you" have been associated with separateness. But it could also indicates and paying attention to the partner in online messages. So the verdict is unclear. Similar case for the usage of "I"

• first-person plural

• second-person singular

• first-person singular

Emotional Dynamics

Positive emotion signal excitment and is respond well. Negative emtoion words may indicate dissatisfcation.

• positive emotion

• negative emotion

• exclamation marks

Decision-Making

More decision-making process / hesitation may indicate uncertainty about the partner and a greater desire for separation over integration

• Negations

• Interrogatives

• Insight

• Cause

• Discrepancies

• Tentativeness

• Certain

• Differentiation

• Assent

Coordination

Planning a date needs coordination

Methods and Results

t-test with FDR correction + logistic regression for prediction

The variables that are significant are bolded in previs section.