There's no question that dating etiquette has relaxed in recent years, but asking your companion, "Would you consider sleeping with someone on the first date?" remains an ugly faux pas that's likely to put some distance between you and your goal. But if the need to know is driving you to distraction, there's a stealthier way to get your answer that involves beer - but not in the way you'd think. More specifically, it involves asking your date one simple seemingly innocuous question: Do you like the taste of beer?
The answer, as it turns, is the single best predictor of whether someone will consider having sex on the first date, Psychology Today noted. Such valuable information comes courtesy of the "big data" crunchers from the popular dating site OKCupid - whose business model depends on such novel research.
The site's co-founder, Christian Rudder, who holds a Harvard mathematics degree, began his 2011 study on relationship trends by examining the site's 275,294 match questions in relation to the 776 million answers users provided. Using this data set he was able to determine which casual questions - including, "Do you like the taste of beer?" - best predicted matching answers to more personal and private matters. For instance, Rudder found that those who answer "yes" to the beer question, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, are 60 percent more likely to take their first-date partner home for a good romp.
For those looking for more than a one-night stand, Rudder analyzed data provided by 34,260 couples that had successfully partnered up and found that a couple's long-term potential correlates to the answers to these three questions:
"Do you like horror movies?"
"Have you ever traveled around another country alone?"
"Wouldn't it be fun to chuck it all and go live on a sailboat?"
Agreement on all three, Rudder points out, indicates strong potential for success in maintaining a relationship. In fact, a trifecta indicates a 32 percent chance of long-term compatibility, which is 3.7 times the rate of simple coincidence. But even if he's wrong in your case, his questions are still pretty decent first-date conversation starters. And you can always nudge the odds in your favor with a pitcher or two of beer.
