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Altruism: Partner Attractive Traits

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Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior

Synonyms

Altruism and cooperation

Definition

The choice of a mate is influenced by altruism, especially in long-term relationships and the preferences of women.

Introduction

Many studies on the subject of altruism’s influence in mate selection have demonstrated that this psychological quality might enhance one’s romantic attractiveness. According to research, women are more drawn to partners who are kind, especially in long-term partnerships. Both men and women act kindly toward prospective romantic partners. Furthermore, numerous studies have demonstrated that, in the reality or actual world, altruistic people have higher mate-success rates than nonaltruistic people. These findings support the hypothesis that altruism originated as a courtship sign through sexual selection, thus supporting the idea that altruism is appealing because it predicts future actions toward a long-term partner and upcoming progeny. This suggests that being a good parent or partner to others indicates that one...

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Kumar, N., Jha, A.K. (2023). Altruism: Partner Attractive Traits. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_6-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

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