Photo: Daniel Grill/Corbis
How many mothers, grandmothers, smugly out-of-touch married friends have given a single person the advice “Volunteer! I hear it’s a great way to meet people. My friend Becky met the cutest guy digging toilets for albino rabbits.”
Unfortunately, a study published in the journal Social and Psychological and Personality Science suggests that your grandmother and her bridge club are right: People who engage in “pro-social behavior” are 25 to 46 percent more likely to find a partner and enter a romantic relationship within a year. The results are due to evolutionary biology — altruism is a desirable trait in a partner, unlike other antisocial tendencies, like shuffling through OKCupid profiles in the darkest hours of the night.