Men donate competitively on women’s fundraising webpages

Men give more money through fundraising websites after seeing that other men have donated large amounts and when the fundraiser is an attractive woman, according to new UCL and University of Bristol research. The scientists say this response by men is unlikely to be conscious and could have an evolutionary function as theories predict that generous actions can honestly signal hidden qualities, such as wealth or desirable personality attributes, to potential partners. Co-author Dr Nichola Raihani (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment), said: "We looked at why people behave generously in real-world situations, even when there is no obvious benefit to them in doing so. We found a remarkably strong response with men competing to advertise generosity to attractive women, but didn't see women reacting in a similar way, showing competitive helping is more a male than female trait." The study, published today in Current Biology and funded by the Royal Society, found that people on average give about £10 more after seeing others' large donations. When the large donations are made by men to attractive female fundraisers, subsequent donations from other men increase by a further £28 on average. The researchers reviewed 2,561 fundraising pages from the 2014 London marathon and found 668 that met the study criteria. Each needed to include an image of the fundraiser whose gender was identified and attractiveness verified independently.