In that study, the researchers simply asked women what they wanted in a man. The problem with this is obvious to any guy who’s ever taken dating advice from a woman: When faced with such a question, women tend to say what they think they should like, not what they actually respond to.
From the article:
The study, which investigated whether altruistic behaviour evolved as a result of sexual selection, involved 70 identical and 87 non-identical female twin pairs.
They completed questionnaires relating to their own levels of altruism by answering questions such as “have you given money to charity?” and “have you dived into a river to save someone from drowning?”.
They then asked them if they would find the same qualities desirable in potential mates.
Statistical analysis of their responses suggested that, in our evolutionary past, those with a stronger mate preference towards altruistic behaviour mated more frequently with more altruistic people.
Also, I’m just not sure what that last paragraph means; it seems tautological to me (of course people who want altruism in mates tend to select altruistic mates), and I can’t find a better explanation of what they did (or what it supposedly proves) in any other articles.
An aside: I think the gender difference in honesty regarding this topic is kind of interesting. Men know that they’re better off with nice girls, but they won’t tell you with a straight face that they respond to nice girls rather than beautiful ones. Women, however, will swear up and down that all they want is a guy who treats them right and maybe makes them laugh — even though it’s plain as day to anyone who’s tried to date women that they respond to aloof, quasi-jerkish behavior.