Objective: We investigated the communicative function of online dating nicknames. Our aim was to assess if it is possible to correctly guess personality traits of a user simply by reading his/her nickname. Method: We had 69 nickname users (average age: 33.59 years, 36 female) complete questionnaires assessing their personality (Big 5 + narcissism) and mating strategy (short-vs. long-term). We then checked (using a total of 638 participants, average age: 26.83 years, 355 female), whether personality and mating strategy of the nickname users could be assessed correctly based only on the nickname. We also captured the motivation to contact the user behind a nickname and looked at linguistic features of the nicknames. Results: We found that personality and mating strategy could be inferred from a nickname. Furthermore, going by trends, women were better at intersexual personality judgments, whereas men were better in intrasexual judgements. We also found several correlates of the motivation to contact the person behind the nickname. Among other factors, long nicknames seemed to deter people from contacting the nickname user. Conclusions: Findings display that humans are capable of making accurate personality judgements in computer-mediated communication by means of even small cues like nicknames.

Several researchers have questioned the reliability of pornography research’s findings as they may, e.g., be biased by social desirability. Following a recent call to make use of more reliable data sources, we conducted two studies to investigate patterns and differences as well as predictors of online pornography use (OPU). In our first study, we used data from a large-scale German online web tracking panel (N = 3018, website visits on domain level) gathered from June 2018 to June 2019. We looked at group differences as well as temporal trends. Overall, our results confirm existing findings from questionnaire-based research related to sex and age differences. Our data also shows temporal patterns, which indicate that – for the majority of users – OPU constitutes a form of leisure time activity that competes with other spare time activities but also family and social obligations (we found the lowest amount of pornography use on Christmas). In our second study, we linked the web tracking to data from an online survey (N = 1315) to reassess the relevance of various predictors of OPU that have been identified in previous research. As in Study 1, our results mostly echo previous findings. Online pornography is used more by males and younger individuals, while relationship, sexism, and social dominance orientation are not associated with OPU. However, we do find differences in OPU between members of different religious communities. With our two studies, we were able to confirm some key findings on OPU from previous questionnaire-based research using web tracking data, while also being able to engage in more finely-grained analyses of usage patterns.

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We used the reinforcing spirals approach and the catalyst model of violent crime to explore if a reciprocal relationship exists between pornography use, sexual fantasies and sexual behavior. To assess our assumption, we conducted a network analysis with a large and diverse sample of N = 1338 hetero- and bisexual participants from Germany. The networks are accurate and stable. Our analysis maps parts of the psychological processes related to sexuality including the question of how these processes correlate. Pornography use appears to be in a reciprocal relationship with sexual fantasy and behavior. However, its use seems to not greatly affect sexual behavior in the majority of opposite-sex relationships with mainstream sexual practices, yielding no empirically relevant effect size. However, an empirically relevant interaction between pornography use and sexual fantasies and behavior did occur in the case of non-mainstream sexual practices (e.g., BDSM). Different communities detected within the networks can be interpreted well (e.g., orgasm centered intercourse, BDSM). In line with previous research, men and women show different communities. However, these communities appear to partly match each other. Reported fantasies and pornography use are more varied compared to actual sexual behavior reported. The study highlights the interaction between sexual fantasies, sexual behavior and (parts of) pornography use. It is a first cue towards a more holistic view on human sexuality and media use.

We conducted two computer-mediated speed dating studies to evaluate personality perception based on language use in online dating and analyzed the data with Bayesian statistics. In each study, participants first reported mating-relevant personality traits (Big Five, sociosexual orientation) and we assessed their intelligence (N1 = 186, N2 = 618). Subsequently, we conducted computer-mediated speed dating sessions at our laboratory (n1 = 56, n2 = 94). After the first chat, participants rated their chat partner on the constructs mentioned above (i.e., personality and intelligence). Linguistic patterns in the chats were analyzed using LIWC. In both studies, consistent evidence showed that online daters systematically rated partners with higher IQ and extraversion scores as more intelligent and extraverted above chance. We also derived different linguistic cues as potential mediators from earlier studies. Empirical evidence proved very strongly against mediation based on such linguistic cues. Hence, although people are able to make correct inferences about the personality and intelligence of potential mates in the dynamic setting of speed dating, it remains unclear which cues they rely on.