The synergistic effect of prosociality and physical attractiveness on mate desirability

Abstract

Mate selection requires a prioritization and joint evaluation of different traits present or absent in potential mates. Herein, we focus on two such traits - physical attractiveness and prosociality - and examine how they jointly shape impressions of overall desirability. We report on two related experiments which make use of an innovative methodology combining large samples of raters and target persons (i.e., stimuli) and information on targets' behaviour in economic games representing altruistic behaviour (Experiment 1) and trustworthiness (Experiment 2), two important facets of prosociality. In accordance with predictions derived from a cognitive perspective on mate choice and sexual strategies theory, the results show that the impact of being prosocial on an individual's overall desirability was increased further by them also being physically attractive, but only in long-term mating contexts. Furthermore, we show that men's mate preferences for certain prosocial traits (i.e., trustworthiness) were more context-dependent than women's due to differential evolutionary pressures for ancestral men and women.

Mutual mate choice drives the desirability of altruism in relationships

“…However, the behaviours included in vignettes here reflect such behaviours as observed in everyday life (e.g. helping others in need) as opposed to the more artificial conditions of economic games used by Ehlebracht et al, (2018). Secondly the relatively low sample size of male participants suggests caution perhaps when interpreting these findings.…”

“…Despite these extensive findings, there are limitations of the current research that should be noted. Firstly, unlike Ehlebracht et al, (2018) this study used hypothetical rather than actual altruistic behaviour. However, the behaviours included in vignettes here reflect such behaviours as observed in everyday life (e.g.…”

“…Finally, there was a significant interaction between altruism, physical attractiveness and relationship length, F (1,187) = 29.92, p < .001, η 2 = .14. To see if this indicated a synergistic effect of physical attractiveness and altruism for LT relationships only (as with Ehlebracht et al, 2018), the proportional change in desirability ratings from low to high altruism were calculated for differing levels of physical attractiveness and relationship length. A further repeated measures 2 x 2 ANOVA on this data revealed a significant interaction, F (1,188) = 11.51, p < .001, η 2 = .06, and subsequent pairwise comparisons revealed that there was a greater proportional change in desirability from low to high altruism for low attractive individuals for both ST, t 188 , = 6.64, p < .001, d = .48, and LT relationships, t 188 , = 3.2, p = .002, d = .23.…”

“…Hypothesis 3: There will be a synergistic effect of altruism and physical attractiveness on desirability, particularly for long term relationships, as found by Ehlebracht et al, (2018).…”

“…To do so, it replicated the extensive methodology of Farrelly et al, (2016) which looked at the additional factors of both relationship length and physical attractiveness, but with the further addition here of the variable of gender. Based on this, and the similar investigation of Ehlebracht et al, (2018), this study tested the following hypotheses, with gender as a variable included on an exploratory basis:…”