According to a new US study, up to a third of women say they would go on a date just for the free meal.
Researchers from Azusa Pacific University and the University of California Merced explored a new dating trend: the "foodie call," when someone goes on a date purely for a free dinner rather than having romantic interest in the person.
The team of authors carried out two different investigations.
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The first study surveyed 820 women, measuring their personality traits, beliefs about gender roles, whether they had tee'd up a 'foodie calls' in the past, and if they thought a foodie call was allowable.
The second group, featuring 357 heterosexual women were given a similar set of questions.
In the initial group, 23 per cent of women reported going along with a 'foodie call'. Although, many suggest it was only on rare occasions.
While many women deemed the practice unacceptable, those who committed the offence believed it was acceptable.
Meanwhile, 33 per cent of women in the second group had gone along for a free feed.
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The results were published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Researchers also found a link between dark personality traits - psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism - as well as those who strongly believed in traditional gender roles, as more likely to tee up a 'foodie call' and find it acceptable.
"Several dark traits have been linked to deceptive and exploitative behaviour in romantic relationships, such as one-night stands, faking an orgasm, or sending unsolicited sexual pictures," says study author Brian Collisson.
However, scientists do suggest that the pool of participants was not large enough to represent the general population and therefore percentages may not be completely accurate.
