Nice Guys do not finish first when it comes to getting the girl

Psychologists are of the opinion that characteristics such as altruism and selflessness has become part of our genetic heritage, because they appeal to the latter.

They believe that man, such qualities as developed stronger and stronger qualities usurped by others - as a helping hand in educating children.

The expansion of the human brain would substantially increase the cost of educating children so it is important for our ancestors mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents to choose "said Dr Tim Phillips and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London.

"Displays of altruism could have ensured accurate clues to this and led to a link between human altruism and sexual selection."

The study investigated whether altruistic behavior evolved as a result of sexual selection, identical 70 and 87 involved non-identical twin female pairs.

They completed questionnaires on their own levels of altruism in answering questions like "did you give money to charity?" And "you've dived into a river to save someone from drowning?.

They then asked if they would find the same qualities of potential partners.

The statistical analysis of their responses indicate that in our evolutionary past, those with a stronger preference for altruistic behavior as more often associated with people more altruistic.

This means that the altruistic gene would be more often than the selfish genes.

Dr Phillips said: "These results are consistent with a link between human altruism towards non-relatives and sexual selection, and sheds new light on the fascinating puzzle of altruistic behavior - which seems at first does not correspond to evolutionary theory."

The results were published in the British Journal of Psychology.