Altruism predicts mating success in humans
- 18 July 2016
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Psychology
- Vol. 108 (2), 416-435
- https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12208
Abstract
In order for non-kin altruism to evolve, altruists must receive fitness benefits for their actions that outweigh the costs. Several researchers have suggested that altruism is a costly signal of desirable qualities, such that it could have evolved by sexual selection. In two studies, we show that altruism is broadly linked with mating success. In Study 1, participants who scored higher on a self-report altruism measure reported they were more desirable to the opposite sex, as well as reported having more sex partners, more casual sex partners, and having sex more often within relationships. Sex moderated some of these relationships, such that altruism mattered more for men's number of lifetime and casual sex partners. In Study 2, participants who were willing to donate potential monetary winnings (in a modified dictator dilemma) reported having more lifetime sex partners, more casual sex partners, and more sex partners over the past year. Men who were willing to donate also reported having more lifetime dating partners. Furthermore, these patterns persisted, even when controlling for narcissism, Big Five personality traits, and socially desirable responding. These results suggest that altruists have higher mating success than non-altruists and support the hypothesis that altruism is a sexually selected costly signal of difficult-to-observe qualities.Keywords
This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Selflessness is sexy: reported helping behaviour increases desirability of men and women as long-term sexual partnersBMC Evolutionary Biology, 2013
- Sexual Selection of Human Cooperative Behaviour: An Experimental Study in Rural SenegalPLOS ONE, 2012
- Cooperation as a signal of genetic or phenotypic quality in female mate choice? Evidence from preferences across the menstrual cycleBritish Journal of Psychology, 2011
- Kin discrimination during egg‐cannibalism in smooth newts: does competition matter?Journal of Zoology, 2010
- Different cognitive processes underlie human mate choices and mate preferencesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Partner choice creates competitive altruism in humansProceedings. Biological sciences, 2006
- The NPI-16 as a short measure of narcissismJournal of Research in Personality, 2006
- Self-recognition, color signals, and cycles of greenbeard mutualism and altruismProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domainsJournal of Research in Personality, 2003
- Mate selection—A selection for a handicapJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1975