London - Women are forever warned men are only after one thing. But it seems their own appetites are not always to be trusted.
Around a third of women admit they have been on a date just to enjoy a free meal, a study found.
The so-called "foodie call", in which a person will agree to be wined and dined with no intention of pursuing a relationship, derives its name from the term "booty call" – slang for phoning an acquaintance for sex.
Psychologists found 23 percent to 33 percent of women had engaged in a foodie call, while those who scored high in tests recording "dark" personality traits, such as narcissism, were more likely to use a date for free food and find it ‘"acceptable".
And women who said they agree with conforming to "traditional" gender roles, such as men being breadwinners, were also more likely to foodie call.
Around 1 060 heterosexual women, both married and unmarried, took part in two online surveys, answering questions about their personality traits, views on gender roles and foodie call history.
In the first study, 23 percent revealed they had been on a foodie call, while the second survey, also published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, recorded the figure at 33 percent.
Co-author Dr Brian Collisson, of Azusa Pacific University in California, said: "Several dark traits have been linked to deceptive and exploitative behaviour in romantic relationships."