Freakonomics Doesn’t Understand Negging

The Freakonomics blog is jumping on the pickup arts with a new entry dissecting negging.  While they get the technique completely wrong, calling it an insult rather than a playful tease, there is still interesting information in it.  In the article they feature a recent study about why men insult their intimate partners and the results thereof.

The results showed that men who piled on the insults (particularly those in the “derogating value as partner/mental capacity” group) were far more likely to engage in mate retention behaviors, suggesting that “men’s partner-directed insults may be deployed as part of a broader strategy of mate retention.”

While it doesn’t detail the entirety of what is considered mate retention behaviors, it does list a few examples including “secretly following a partner when she goes out alone,” and “public signals of possession.” From this surface level coverage, it sounds to me like some guys are assholes and then stalk their girlfriends while they are out.

Read the full entry.