Men donate competitively on women's fundraising webpages

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/ucl-mdc041415.php

Public Release: 16-Apr-2015
University College London

Men give more money through fundraising websites after seeing that other men have donated large amounts and when the fundraiser is an attractive woman, according to new UCL and University of Bristol research.

The scientists say this response by men is unlikely to be conscious and could have an evolutionary function as theories predict that generous actions can honestly signal hidden qualities, such as wealth or desirable personality attributes, to potential partners.

Co-author Dr Nichola Raihani from UCL (Life Sciences), said: "We looked at why people behave generously in real-world situations, even when there is no obvious benefit to them in doing so. We found a remarkably strong response with men competing to advertise generosity to attractive women, but didn't see women reacting in a similar way, showing competitive helping is more a male than female trait."

•••••