Men increase time spent on a charitable task when in the presence of women and other men: Evidence of competitive altruism in online mating scenarios

Abstract

Previous research shows that competition can increase altruistic behaviour, however, the majority of such research focuses on financial costs and so our understanding is currently limited. Subsequently, the present study explored how competitive altruism can affect prosocial behaviour where time spent is the currency, using a real world charity. A sample of 67 men and 71 women completed the online altruistic task. As hypothesised, significant differences in giving behaviour due to competition were present in men but not women, suggesting that men use time spent here as a signal in mate choice scenarios. These findings therefore expand upon previous research on financial altruism, using artificial and/or hypothetical scenarios, by demonstrating that competitive altruism can be applied to real-world scenarios, where prosocial behaviours are of benefit. It also builds on previous research showing that men can compete with other men to display their altruistic nature to potential mates.