Men become more charitable when in the presence of a woman they find pretty compared to one they find unattractive, say a group of psychologists.
Men become more charitable when in the presence of a woman they find pretty compared to one they find unattractive, say a group of psychologists.
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However, women are not influenced by who they were with and showed little change in the amount of money they gave.
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Professor Robin Dunbar, from the institute of cognitive and evolutionary anthropology at Oxford University who led the study, said that men appeared to use acts of generosity as a way of appealing to females they were attracted to.
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"Buying presents to impress women has been a key part of mating rituals in humans for some time, but it appears that it is the act of generosity rather than the gift itself which is being used as a mating signal," the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
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"We have found in previous studies that women are attracted to generous men. They seem to like heroic types for short term relationships, but altruists for long term relationships.
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"Generosity could be a way for men to show their suitability to invest in a relationship and help in rearing offspring," he added.
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Researcher Wendy Iredale, form the department of psychology at the University of Kent, conducted the study with 45 male and 45 female volunteers who were asked to play a series of games that earned them up to 24 pounds in money.
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The participants, who were not told the purpose of the study, were then asked if they would like to donate some of the earnings to charity.
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On each occasion they were either left alone to donate, or observed either by a member of the opposite sex or the same sex as they made their donation. They were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the person in the room with them.
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The scientists found that men donated between 50 per cent to 100 per cent of their earnings when a woman was in the room and were more generous when they were being watched by a woman they thought was attractive.
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When they were with a man or unaccompanied they donated less than 40 per cent. The female volunteers donated an average of around 40 per cent regardless of who was in the room with them.
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