The Role of Prosocial Behaviors in Mate Choice: a Critical Review of the Literature

Research has focused on the role of prosocial behaviors in mate choice, across both social and evolutionary psychology. Several studies provide strong support for the role of altruism in mate choice, whereby people find prosociality attractive in potential mates. As most research focuses on the role of altruism in mate choice, most research has found that people exhibit altruism towards attractive people, suggesting altruistic behavior is driven by mate choice motivation. Although studies have supported the notion that men’s altruism towards women is driven by mate choice, the findings are inconsistent, which may be due to the methodologies adopted by researchers. To our knowledge, this review paper is the first to critically review the literature concerning prosociality and mate choice. We provide an outline of the research thus far, methodological issues, and considerations for future research.