New research out of Nipissing University shows selfless people have more sex

The saying goes that generosity is it’s own reward… now a new study out of Nipissing University shows there’s another reward too.

Research published in the British Journal of Psychology shows that people who help others are more desirable to the opposite sex, have more sexual partners and have more frequent sex.

The study, titled “Altruism predicts mating success in humans” was led by Dr. Steven Arnocky, associate professor in the department of psychology at Nipissing. “Anything from donating to charity, to helping someone push their car out of the snow, these individuals also report having more, what we call mating success, more sexual activity, lifetime sex partners, lifetime casual sex partners and even more sexual behaviour within their romantic relationships.”

The study, which questioned 800 people about their relationships and propensity for helping others, also found that altruism seems to work more effectively for men in terms of attracting a partner.

“Generally this mattered more for men than for women, although we did find effects for women as well. But, particularly important for men”, said Dr Arnocky.

The research team featured Dr. Pat Barclay, associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Guelph, as well as Nipissing University psychology students Tina Piché, Graham Albert, and Danielle Ouellette.