Women find altruists sexually attractive

Nottingham, October 15: Selflessness wins hearts is a known fact, but altruism makes you sexually attractive to your mate is news to the ears; one that might prove to be quite an inspiring one at that, especially if it is stamped by the biologists and psychologists of the University of Nottingham.

Conducted by lead researcher Dr. Tim Philips and his team, the study involved over 1000 people and comprised of three studies in all which gathered information on the importance women placed on altruistic traits in their mates.

The researchers questioned the participants over a variety of qualities which they searched in their mates including ones demonstrating altruistic traits in them like – blood donation, volunteering services for hospitals and similar such acts of selflessness.

The study which had both male as well as female participants found that women as compared to their male counterparts placed greater stress on altruism, while both laid stress on these traits, when choosing a partner.

It was discovered by the researchers that surprisingly women found altruistic traits far more appealing in their partners than any other quality or behavior, indicating clearly that a selfless heart makes a man sexually much more attractive than a cute smile or great abs or the chiseled Greek God looks.

All the 170 couples who participated in the study were made to rate their preference of altruistic traits in a mate as well as report how altruistic they themselves were.

It was found that the strength of altruistic behavior that one partner displayed co-related with the strength of altruistic preference of his mate clearly indicating that men and women both place a great degree of significance on such traits and choose partners keeping these factors in mind.

Dr Phillips concluded, “Sexual selection could well come to be seen as exerting a major influence on what made humans human.”

The findings of the study have been published in the British Journal of Psychology.

According to the evolutionary theory human beings are made in a way to compete with each other to get the best out of everything, ‘survival of the fittest’ being the driving force behind the practice. But Dr. Philips notes that often many men and women are seen to perform acts which are selfless and are in no way done to reap any benefits in return.