London - They do not spring to mind as the best conversational gambits to ask on a first date.
But finding out whether a potential lover likes scary films and whether they have ever travelled to a foreign country alone are the best predictors of compatibility, according to an expert.
Christian Rudder, co-founder of dating website OkCupid, says most successful couples give the same answer to both questions.
Users are asked about their likes and dislikes when signing up, allowing the site to track how people who have answered certain questions match romantically.
Rudder wrote in the Guardian: “In about three-quarters of the long-term couples OkCupid has brought together, both people have answered these two questions the same way… That’s much, much higher than the expected rate, since both questions evenly split our user base.
“In fact, successful couples agree on scary movies… about as often as they agree on the existence of God.”
In contrast, dating website eHarmony recommends asking “What’s the one thing about you that would surprise me?” on a first date.
On its website it said: “You might learn something really amazing about your date - or something really run-for-the-hills scary. Either way, you’ll get valuable information.”
OkCupid also found that asking a date whether they liked the taste of beer was the single best predictor of whether they would have sex on a first date.
People who liked beer, regardless of gender, were around 60 percent more likely to go to bed with someone they had just met.
Mr Rudder co-founded OkCupid with two friends a decade ago and has been in charge of its analytics team since 2009.
Data from the site also showed women preferred dates who are around their age, whereas men prefer a woman to be in her 20s, regardless of their own age.
* Scientists have found that dates who watched horror films together were more likely to find each other attractive, as fear was often mistaken for sexual arousal.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival this year, Dr Viren Swami said studies showed people who crossed a wobbly bridge were much more likely to rate the person at the end of the bridge as attractive.
He added: “This may be because they misinterpret fear as sexual arousal. So it’s a good idea to take someone to a scary movie.”
** People who meet through online dating websites are more likely to break up than those who get together in real life.
Researchers at University of Michigan found that 32 percent of those who did Internet dating ended up being single compared to 23 percent of those who met somebody in person.
Even couples who meet online and do get married break up at a higher rate than their offline counterparts, the findings showed.
The study authors said that dating websites gave people “too many options” and left them with the feeling they could always trade up to somebody better.
Daily Mail