Phillips Tim, Barnard Chris, Ferguson Eamonn, Reader Tom
School of Biology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Br J Psychol. 2008 Nov;99(Pt 4):555-72. doi: 10.1348/000712608X298467.
Humans are often seen as unusual in displaying altruistic behaviour towards non-relatives. Here we outline and test a hypothesis that human altruistic traits evolved as a result of sexual selection. We develop a psychometric scale to measure mate preference towards altruistic traits (the MPAT scale). We then seek evidence of whether mate choice on the basis of altruistic traits is present and find it in one study (N=170 couples). We also predict that a stronger female MPAT, as measured by responses to the MPAT scale, will be expressed - a result found in all three studies (Ns=380, 340, and 398). Both sets of results are consistent with the hypothesized link between human altruism towards non-relatives and sexual selection.
人类在对非亲属表现出利他行为时，常常被视为与众不同。在此，我们概述并检验一种假说，即人类利他特质是性选择的结果而进化而来。我们开发了一种心理测量量表来衡量对利他特质的配偶偏好（MPAT量表）。然后，我们寻找基于利他特质进行配偶选择的证据，并在一项研究（N = 170对夫妇）中找到了它。我们还预测，通过对MPAT量表的回答来衡量，女性更强的MPAT将会表现出来——这一结果在所有三项研究（N分别为380、340和398）中都被发现。这两组结果都与人类对非亲属的利他行为和性选择之间的假设联系相一致。
