Women are attracted to altruistic men, but not vice versa, according to new Canadian research.
Previous studies have found that women rate altruism as an attractive trait in a partner. It serves as a signal that a man will invest energy and resources in the relationship and in children, says Pat Barclay of McMaster University in Ontario.
When Barclay asked men and women to rate lonely hearts ads containing identical photographs but different text, women duly rated the men whose spare time was filled with altruistic pursuits as more attractive.
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But male raters found altruistic women less attractive, and less desirable as a prospective date. This held true whether the advert purported to be from a woman seeking a short-term or long-term partner.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very curious finding,鈥� Barclay admits. 鈥淧erhaps men think they鈥檙e less likely to score with 鈥榞ood girls鈥�.鈥� He believes more research is needed to unravel the reasons behind the results.
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Barclay鈥檚 simulated dating service adverts included photographs of people rated as being of average attractiveness. The text for the 鈥榓ltruistic鈥� group was almost identical to the text for the control group. But it included extra spare time interests, such as working with special needs children, or volunteering to referee sports games.
Barclay asked 62 women and 33 men to rate the people featured in the adverts on 27 characteristics. These included attractiveness and personality traits. The raters were also asked to indicate how willing they would be to go on a date, go into business with, or lend money to the person.
Male raters said they would prefer to go into business with and lend money to the altruistic women. 鈥淭he only difference was in sexual attractiveness and willingness to date,鈥� says Barclay.
The research was presented at the Human Behaviour and Evolution Society conference in London, UK.