If you give more, you get more. A new study shows that this may also be relevant to your sex life.

The study by University of Guelph and Nipissing University published recently in the British Journal of Psychology said that altruistic people are more likely to be desirable by the opposite sex and in turn more like to have frequent sex.

“This study is the first to show that altruism may translate into real mating success in Western populations, that altruists have more mates than non-altruists,” said Pat Barclay, a psychology professor at the University of Guelph. Barclay worked on the study with lead author Steven Arnocky from Nipissing University.

After interviewing almost 800 people regarding their relationships and helpfulness — factors like charity, donating blood, helping strangers cross the street, donating winnings and others —those more inclined to help others were also found to have greater success at dating and sex.

“It appears that altruism evolved in our species, in part, because it serves as a signal of other underlying desirable qualities, which helps individuals reproduce,” said Arnocky in a press release.

The results, however, tilted more in the favor of one gender than the other. Barclay says altruism is “a more effective signal for men than for women,” corroborating earlier studies on hunters and food sharing that found that men who hunt and share meat are more successful when it comes to the reproductive field.

An earlier research by Barclay had also found that when all other factors were equal, both men and women were more attracted to people who were more giving and helpful. Following the latest study, the authors recommend inclusion of a number of other factors like relationship length and partner quality to further expand the research.

“Also, given the importance we place on attractiveness, resources and intelligence, it would be worthwhile to explore how individuals ‘trade-off’ altruism against other desirable qualities,” Arnocky said.

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