Scientific American: Altruistic People Have More Sexual Partners

[Clark]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/altruistic-people-have-more-sexual-partners/


Altruistic People Have More Sexual Partners
We are drawn to those who do good deeds
… Do nice guys truly finish last?
One area of research which seems to contrast this notion is the study of altruism as a sexual signal.  Altruism involves behaving in ways that benefit another individual at some cost to one’s own fitness. Recently, converging evidence has suggested that altruism may play an important role in mate selection, thus highlighting a potentially important avenue along which good deeds done toward unrelated individuals (exemplified today by acts like donating blood or helping to push a stranger’s car out of the snow)  may have evolved.
This theory suggests that altruism may serve, in part, to convey one’s value as a mating partner, including one’s concern for others and likelihood of cooperating with future mates.  Research has shown that we prefer altruistic partners, all else being equal; especially for long-term mating (the evidence for altruism being preferred in short-term mates is mixed). Not surprisingly, then, the pull to demonstrate one’s altruism can be strong.
…
Indeed, one of us has a female friend who would explicitly screen potential boyfriends based on whether they had donated blood: Others, it seems, may doing the same.

[Fr Pat]

     When can I expect this to kick in? It has been almost 15 years since I donated a kidney, and I'll be 71 next month.
                  Fr. Pat