IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v9y2020i8p141-d397590.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Giving Guys Get the Girls: Men Appear More Desirable to the Opposite Sex When Displaying Costly Donations to the Homeless

Author

Listed:
  • Wendy Iredale

    (School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK)

  • Keli Jenner

    (School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK)

  • Mark Van Vugt

    (Evolutionary Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, 1105 1081 Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Tammy Dempster

    (School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK)

Abstract

One of the evolutionary adaptive benefits of altruism may be that it acts as an honest (reliable) signal of men’s mate quality. In this study, 285 female participants were shown one of three video scenarios in which a male target took £30 out of a cash machine (ATM) and gave either a lot (£30), a little (£1), or nothing to a homeless man. The participants rated the male target on his attractiveness, their short- and long-term mate preferences towards him, and the degree to which they thought he was likely to possess various parenting qualities. The results showed that, regardless of whether the man was described as rich or poor, participants rated him as being more attractive when he donated money, but only when the donation was costly (£30). In addition, altruism was shown to be important in long-term, but not short-term mate choice, and displays of altruism were associated with positive parenting qualities. It is argued that displays of altruism act as a reliable (honest) mate signal for a potential long-term parental partner.

Suggested Citation

  • Wendy Iredale & Keli Jenner & Mark Van Vugt & Tammy Dempster, 2020. "Giving Guys Get the Girls: Men Appear More Desirable to the Opposite Sex When Displaying Costly Donations to the Homeless," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:8:p:141-:d:397590
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/8/141/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/8/141/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnaud Tognetti & Claire Berticat & Michel Raymond & Charlotte Faurie, 2012. "Sexual Selection of Human Cooperative Behaviour: An Experimental Study in Rural Senegal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-9, September.
    2. I. S. Penton-Voak & D. I. Perrett & D. L. Castles & T. Kobayashi & D. M. Burt & L. K. Murray & R. Minamisawa, 1999. "Menstrual cycle alters face preference," Nature, Nature, vol. 399(6738), pages 741-742, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Terence C. Burnham & Jay Phelan, 2023. "Ordinaries 13: apparent spite & apparent altruism," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 147-180, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Havliček & Kelly D. Cobey & Louise Barrett & Kateřina Klapilová & S. Craig Roberts, 2015. "The spandrels of Santa Barbara? A new perspective on the peri-ovulation paradigm," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(5), pages 1249-1260.
    2. Borau, Sylvie & Couprie, Hélène & Hopfensitz, Astrid, 2022. "The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Jin-Ying Zhuang & Sen Zhang & Jing Xu & Die Hu, 2014. "Discriminating Males and Unpredictable Females: Males Differentiate Self-Similar Facial Cues More than Females in the Judgment of Opposite-Sex Attractiveness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-9, March.
    4. Centofanti, Tiziana & Murugesan, Anand, 2022. "Leader and citizens participation for the environment: Experimental evidence from Eastern Europe," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    5. Stanton, Angela A., 2008. "Neuroeconomics: A Critique of 'Neuroeconomics: A Critical Reconsideration'," MPRA Paper 7928, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Thomas Buser, 2011. "Hormones and Social Preferences," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-046/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Erika Limoncin & Caterina Solano & Giacomo Ciocca & Daniele Mollaioli & Elena Colonnello & Andrea Sansone & Filippo Maria Nimbi & Chiara Simonelli & Renata Tambelli & Emmanuele Angelo Jannini, 2020. "Can Physical and/or Sexual Abuse Play a Role in the Female Choice of a Partner? A Cross-Sectional, Correlational Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    8. Buser, Thomas, 2012. "Digit ratios, the menstrual cycle and social preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 457-470.
    9. Klaus Sinko & Ulrich S Tran & Arno Wutzl & Rudolf Seemann & Gabriele Millesi & Reinhold Jagsch, 2018. "Perception of aesthetics and personality traits in orthognathic surgery patients: A comparison of still and moving images," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-12, May.
    10. Lynda G Boothroyd & Alan W Gray & Thomas N Headland & Ray T Uehara & David Waynforth & D Michael Burt & Nicholas Pound, 2017. "Male Facial Appearance and Offspring Mortality in Two Traditional Societies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, January.
    11. Paola Iannello & Daniela Villani & Gaia Bruschi, 2016. "A preliminary investigation about the relationship between well-being and fertility status in different menstrual cycle phases," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 15(2), pages 195-205, November.
    12. Durante, Kristina M. & Griskevicius, Vladas & Ulu, Sevincgul (Sev), 2020. "The effect of fertility on loss aversion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 599-607.
    13. Thomas Buser, 2009. "The Impact of Female Sex Hormones on Competitiveness," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-082/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Jin-Ying Zhuang & Jia-Xi Wang, 2014. "Women Ornament Themselves for Intrasexual Competition near Ovulation, but for Intersexual Attraction in Luteal Phase," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-10, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:8:p:141-:d:397590. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.