Open AccessMATE SELECTION PREFERENCES BASED ON ALTRUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS AMONG THAIS
Author(s) -
Somying Tsai,
AUTHOR_ID,
Douglas Rhein,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of asia-pacific studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1823-6243
DOI - 10.21315/ijaps2022.18.1.5
Subject(s) - altruism (biology) , preference , psychology , social psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , term (time) , thais , kin selection , demography , microeconomics , economics , sociology , biology , ecology , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence
Extensive research in evolutionary psychology has explored the role that altruism plays in mate preference. This research aims to investigate whether altruism is desired for long-term and short term relationships among females and males, as well as to determine potential sex differences within this preference among Thai nationals. To that end, a self-administered online Thai language-based survey was distributed for data collection; 138 Thai respondents (mean age = 22.5, SD = 4.37) completed the survey. The respondents were asked to read nine hypothetical scenarios and rate their preferences for different individuals in the scenarios for long-term and shortterm relationships. In each scenario, if one person displayed high levels of altruism, another person in the same scenario would display a lower level of altruism. A 2 × 2 × 2 mixed ANOVA indicated that both men and women significantly favoured altruistic partners for long-term relationships; whereas, when displays of altruism was low, there was only a slight difference in preference for a short-term or longterm relationship. Moreover, there was no significant difference between men and women’s desirability for altruistic partners. This study provides further support for previous altruism based research which emphasises the importance of altruism regarding long term mate selection.