 |
|
Being altruistic may make you attractive
October 15, 2008Displays of altruism or selflessness towards others can be sexually attractive in a mate. This is one of the findings of a study carried out by biologists and a psychologist at The University of Nottingham.
In three studies of more than 1,000 people Dr Tim Phillips and his fellow researchers discovered that women place significantly greater importance on altruistic traits that anything else. Their findings have been published in the British Journal of Psychology.
Dr Phillips said: "Evolutionary theory predicts competition between individuals and yet we see many examples in nature of individuals disadvantaging themselves to help others. In humans, particularly, we see individuals prepared to put themselves at considerable risk to help individuals they do not know for no obvious reward."
Participants in the studies were questioned about a range of qualities they look for in a mate, including examples of altruistic behaviour such as 'donates blood regularly' and 'volunteered to help out in a local hospital'. Women placed significantly greater importance on altruistic traits in all three studies.
Yet both sexes may consider altruistic traits when choosing a partner. One hundred and seventy couples were asked to rate how much they preferred altruistic traits in a mate and report their own level of altruistic behaviour. The strength of preference in one partner was found to correlate with the extent of altruistic behaviour typically displayed in the other, suggesting that altruistic traits may well be a factor both men and women take into account when choosing a partner.
Dr Phillips said: "For many years the standard explanation for altruistic behaviour towards non-relatives has been based on reciprocity and reputation - a version of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. I believe we need to look elsewhere to understand the roots of human altruism. The expansion of the human brain would have greatly increased the cost of raising children so it would have been important for our ancestors to choose mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents. Displays of altruism could well have provided accurate clues to this and genes linked to altruism would have been favoured as a result."
Dr Phillips concluded: "Sexual selection could well come to be seen as exerting a major influence on what made humans human."
Dr Tom Reader in the School of Biology said: "Sexual preferences have enormous potential to shape the evolution of animal behaviour. Humans are clearly not an exception: sex may have a crucial role in explaining what are our most biologically interesting and unusual habits."
The University of Nottingham
Participants in the studies were questioned about a range of qualities they look for in a mate, including examples of altruistic behaviour such as 'donates blood regularly' and 'volunteered to help out in a local hospital'. Women placed significantly greater importance on altruistic traits in all three studies.
Yet both sexes may consider altruistic traits when choosing a partner. One hundred and seventy couples were asked to rate how much they preferred altruistic traits in a mate and report their own level of altruistic behaviour. The strength of preference in one partner was found to correlate with the extent of altruistic behaviour typically displayed in the other, suggesting that altruistic traits may well be a factor both men and women take into account when choosing a partner.
Dr Phillips said: "For many years the standard explanation for altruistic behaviour towards non-relatives has been based on reciprocity and reputation - a version of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. I believe we need to look elsewhere to understand the roots of human altruism. The expansion of the human brain would have greatly increased the cost of raising children so it would have been important for our ancestors to choose mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents. Displays of altruism could well have provided accurate clues to this and genes linked to altruism would have been favoured as a result."
Dr Phillips concluded: "Sexual selection could well come to be seen as exerting a major influence on what made humans human."
Dr Tom Reader in the School of Biology said: "Sexual preferences have enormous potential to shape the evolution of animal behaviour. Humans are clearly not an exception: sex may have a crucial role in explaining what are our most biologically interesting and unusual habits."
The University of Nottingham
Altruism Current Events and Altruism News RSSIn sickness and health: Caring for ailing spouse may prolong your life
Older people who spent at least 14 hours a week taking care of a disabled spouse lived longer than others. That is the unexpected finding of a University of Michigan study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Gene associated with pair-bonding in animals has similar effects in human males
Variation in the gene for one of the receptors for the hormone vasopressin appears to be associated with how human males bond with their partners, according to an international team of researchers.
New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists
A new discovery by a scientist from The University of Western Ontario provides conclusive evidence which supports decades-old evolutionary doctrines long accepted as fact.
Hope among patients with ALS may take a variety of forms
Sustaining hope in the face of a chronic, debilitating illness such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) should be a goal of palliative care and can take many forms, representing a continuum from focusing on the self to concern for others.
New paper on oxytocin reveals why we are generous
Neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak of Claremont Graduate University has new research, and a paper, "Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans," which will be published November 7, 2007 in PLoS ONE, the online, open-access journal from the Public Library of Science.
The coevolution of parochial altruism and war
In "The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War" appearing in the October 26 issue of Science, SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin.
Humans and monkeys share Machiavellian intelligence
When it comes to their social behavior, people sometimes act like monkeys, or more specifically, like rhesus macaques, a type of monkey that shares with humans strong tendencies for nepotism and political maneuvering.
Human-like altruism shown in chimpanzees
Debates about altruism are often based on the assumption that it is either unique to humans or else the human version differs from that of other animals in important ways.
Plants recognize their siblings, biologists discover
The next time you venture into your garden armed with plants, consider who you place next to whom. It turns out that the docile garden plant isn't as passive as widely assumed, at least not with strangers.
Mule deer moms rescue other fawns
An intriguing study of mule deer and whitetail deer conducted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada and the University of Lethbridge, also in Canada, showed that both species responded to the recorded distress calls of fawns, similar to the responses elicited when coyotes attack fawns, with mule deer mothers responding to both whitetail and mule deer calls, even when their own fawn stood next to them.
More Altruism Current Events and Altruism News Articles
 | The Possibility of Altruism by Thomas Nagel |
 | The Altruism Reader: Selections from Writings on Love, Religion, and Science |
 | Altruism (Concepts in the Social Sciences) by Niall Scott, Jonathan Seglow "A discussion of altruism, drawing on different disiplinary perspectives, could hardly be more timely, and this book is a thoughtful and insightful contribution to the debate." Ruth Chadwick - Distinguished Research Professor and Director, Cardiff University. . What motivates us to be altruistic?. How did an altruistic trait evolve in humans, given that evolutionary theory assumes we are... |
 | The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness by Lee Alan Dugatkin In a world supposedly governed by ruthless survival of the fittest, why do we see acts of goodness in both animals and humans? This problem plagued Charles Darwin in the 1850s as he developed his theory of evolution through natural selection. Indeed, Darwin worried that the goodness he observed in nature could be the Achilles heel of his theory. Ever since then, scientists and other thinkers have... |
 | The Heart of Altruism by Kristen Renwick Monroe Is all human behavior based on self-interest? Many social and biological theories would argue so, but such a perspective does not explain the many truly heroic acts committed by people willing to risk their lives to help others. In The Heart of Altruism, Kristen Renwick Monroe boldly lays the groundwork for a social theory receptive to altruism by examining the experiences described by altruists... |
 | Selfishness, Altruism, and Rationality by Howard Margolis Why do we volunteer time? Why do we contribute money? Why, even, do we vote, if the effect of a single vote is negligible? Rationality-based microeconomic models are hard-pressed to explain such social behavior, but Howard Margolis proposes a solution. He suggests that within each person there are two selves, one selfish and the other group-oriented, and that the individual follows a Darwinian... |
 | Research on Altruism and Love: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Studies in Psychology, Sociology, Evolutionary Biology, and Theology Research on Altruism and Love is a compendium of annotated bibliographies reviewing literature and research studies on the nature of love. An essay introduces each of the annotated bibliographies. A variety of literature either directly related to science-and-love issues or supporting literature for those issues is covered in the Religious Love Interfaces with Science section. This annotated... |
 | Kindness In A Cruel World: The Evolution Of Altruism by Nigel Barber "Nigel Barber's KINDNESS IN A CRUEL WORLD provides a well-written, accessible, and much-welcomed discussion of moral beliefs and moral behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The insightful discussion of kindness and cruelty will stimulate debate, and provide an excellent introduction to these issues for the nonspecialist and an excellent review for students of evolutionary thinking. I highly... |
 | The Brighter Side Of Human Nature: Altruism And Empathy In Everyday Life by Alfie Kohn Drawing from hundreds of studies in half a dozen fields, "The Brighter Side of Human Nature" makes a powerful case that caring and generosity are just as natural as selfishness and aggression. This lively refutation of cynical assumptions about our species considers the nature of empathy and the causes of war, why we (incorrectly) explain all behavior in terms of self-interest, and how we can... |
 | The Ethics of Altruism by J. Seglow "The chief problem of human life", wrote Auguste Comte, is "the subordination of egoism to altruism". This collection examines the nature and value of altruism as a moral virtue, restoring it to its proper place at the centre of our moral and political thinking.The first five essays in the collection explore the relationship between altruism and other moral concepts such as self-interest,... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |