What the World’s ‘Best Chat-Up Line’ Reveals About Human Psychology

Professor Richard Wiseman wanted to discover the world’s chat-up line. But in doing so, he discovered several secrets behind human psychology. On today’s Nudge he covers: 1) Why councils shouldn’t pay people to sweep litter 2) How a saleswoman doubled her likeability 3) The picture Richard uses to never lose his wallet 4) And the chat-up line --- Richard’s book Quirkology: Richard’s book 59 Seconds: Richard’s SubStack: Join 11,934 readers of the Nudge Newsletter: Unlock the Nudge Vaults: Connect on LinkedIn: --- Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness. Psychonomic Science, 4, 227–228. Hornstein, H. A., Fisch, E., & Holmes, M. (1968). Influence of a model’s feeling about his behavior and his relevance as a comparison on other observers’ helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10(3), 222–226. Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129–137.

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What the World’s ‘Best Chat-Up Line’ Reveals About Human Psychology is an episode from Nudge - Marketing Science Podcast by Phill Agnew.

This episode is 27:47 long.

This episode was published on Apr 13, 2026.

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