Further support for the role of heroism in human mate choice.

Abstract

for collecting part of the data for this study. We also thank Catherine Salmon for handling our manuscript and the two anonymous reviewers for their time and valuable comments throughout the peer review process. Author contributions: MSB formulated the project, designed the experiment and collected the data. JB conducted all analyses. MSB and JB wrote the article.

The value of pro-environmental behaviour in mate choice

“…If this is indeed why prosociality is important in mate choice, then what psychological characteristics that are beneficial in partners and parents are being signalled by the prosocial actor to potential partners? Research has explored different forms of prosocial behaviour, such as heroism (Bhogal & Bartlett, 2020;Margana et al, 2019), trustworthiness (Ehlebracht et al, 2018) and fairness . These studies have shown consistencies in terms of the desirability of prosocial behaviours (again, particularly for long-term relationships) but also differences in terms of the types of the behaviour and of the context in which it can occur.…”

Are Everyday Heroic or Altruistic Acts More Desirable in Human Mate Choice?

“…That no difference between these acts were found suggests that there is nothing 'special' or 'higher' about the increased risks attributed to heroism as a signal in mate choice, and that these are perceived the same as other altruistic acts. Furthermore this suggests that previous research that has found higher desirability for heroism (e.g., Bhogal & Bartlett, 2021) over altruism may be due to other confounding traits that were signalled by using more extreme and heightened forms of heroism. In other words, when heroism is seen as being desirable, it may not be due to the prosocial or altruistic nature of such acts per se, but because of other desirable traits it also signals, such as physical strength or status.…”

“…Materials & Procedure (a) Scenarios Six scenarios were developed based on previous literature (see Bhogal & Bartlett, 2021;Margana et al, 2019) that presented an everyday event, and included descriptions of how two hypothetical target individuals behaved in response. Of these two targets, one behaved in a heroic manner and the other in an altruistic manner.…”

“…For example Kelly & Dunbar (2001) found that heroic males were desired as romantic partners, more so than altruists, and furthermore women have a preference for heroic risk-takers over non-heroic risk- better represent the proximate cases of heroism the sample population (undergraduate students) may experience. Furthermore, as both general altruistic acts (Farrelly, 2013;Farrelly & King, 2019) and heroic acts (Bhogal & Bartlett, 2021) have been shown to be valued by both men and women for long-term relationships (albeit higher in women), this study will look at the findings from both men and women.…”

“…takers, particularly when levels of risk involved were high (Farthing, 2005(Farthing, , 2007. Recently Margana et al (2019) found that women desired heroic partners, particularly for long-term relationships, and Bhogal and Bartlett (2021) found the same desirability for heroic partners in both men and women.…”