Physical attractiveness, altruism and fairness in a game-theoretic framework

Abstract

Altruism and cooperation have been troubling concepts for theorists. Where altruism towards kin is well-researched, altruism towards non-kin is an evolutionary puzzle. There have been advances in evolutionary psychology where theorists have explored the evolution of altruism through the lens of sexual selection theory, hypothesising that altruism leads to increased chances of being chosen as a mate, particularly as females value altruistic tendencies in a romantic partner. As a result, it was hypothesised males would be more cooperative and altruistic towards those they were attracted to. In study 1, it was found that females placed more importance on altruism and cooperativeness in a mate, far more than males. In addition, males placed more importance on physical attractiveness in a mate, far more than females. In study 2, it was found that people were altruistic and cooperative towards attractive members of the opposite sex when viewing images in response to moral scenarios. When I aimed to replicate this finding, using a game-theoretic framework in studies 3, 4 and 5, I found that people were fair, and altruistic when allocating stakes, and attractiveness did not predict altruism. This consistent fair behaviour led me to further investigate the role of fairness in mate attraction. In studies 6 and 7, it was found that third-parties found fairness to be more attractive than altruism, particularly female participants. In study 8, I further delved into the role of fairness in mate choice, where I found that fairness could be attractive because it increases relationship maintenance in the short-term, but it is altruism that increases relationship longevity in long-term relationships. Furthermore, it was found that people perceive short-term, fair couples to have less intention to cheat than long-term altruistic couples. This thesis opens a new and exciting door in the field of evolutionary psychology, providing evidence that fairness could play a role in mate choice.