A couple of books have come to my awareness. I’ve not read either one, but I’m amused by their existence.
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists is essentially an instruction book for guys on how to become a pickup artist and get any girl that you want.
The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right is essentially and instruction book for women on how to snare a man into marriage.
The researcher in me wants to take 20 or so Rules Girls and 20 or so Game Guys and throw them into a bar, then take notes to see which manipulative system wins.
define “win”
Vorn
Dangit, those were my exact words.
Will the suavity of the Mr. Pickup cause Ms. Rules to abandon her rules and sleep with him? Or will Ms. Rules adherence to her creed enchant Mr. Pickup so that he gives up his wild swinger lifestyle and get married?
I suppose it is also possible that Ms. Rules and Mr. Pickup will be repulsed by each other and walk out of the bar. Part of me is curious to know.
The possibility exists that it’s not a binary solution, with one or the other “winning,” because the objectives of both players aren’t mutually exclusive. The premise of the pickup book is to break the ice, and manage the first 15 minutes of contact with a stranger. Where things go from there depends upon the motivation of the player. If he can figure out, from a 15-minute conversation, whether or not to get her number, it’s a successful move, and therefore a “win.” Her “win” is getting him to actually call, then spend money and time.
I personally believe that you can learn more psychology by paying attention to what occurs in a bar than you can just about anywhere else. 🙂
Good point. And that is exactly what interests me in this experiment. Is it possible for both systems to “win” simultaneously? Are the systems shallow manipulation, or are they merely frameworks of skills which have use for all people?
As far as I am concerned relationships aren’t about winning, they’re about sharing. But do Mr. Pickup and Ms. Rules know that?
This sounds like the time when I was testing a chess program for the Sega Game Gear. I pitted it against the chess program from the Nintendo GameBoy. Then I got out a book, because the tiny little handheld CPU took about five minutes to make a move…
What a good idea!