Here’s something that may probably come as a surprise to some people. One of the top qualities that people look for in a long-term relationship is kindness, new research suggests. While it has always been assumed that a good sense of humour was one the top traits that people looked for in their partner, this new study found that kindness tops the list now. For this study, the research team picked over 2,700 college students from across the globe and asked them to build themselves an ideal lifelong partner by using a fixed budget to ‘buy’ characteristics. While traits like physical attractiveness and financial prospects were important, the one that was given the highest priority was kindness, said the researchers.

Here’s something that may probably come as a surprise to some people. One of the top qualities that people look for in a long-term relationship is kindness, new research suggests. While it has always been assumed that a good sense of humour was one the top traits that people looked for in their partner, this new study found that kindness tops the list now. For this study, the research team picked over 2,700 college students from across the globe and asked them to build themselves an ideal lifelong partner by using a fixed budget to ‘buy’ characteristics. While traits like physical attractiveness and financial prospects were important, the one that was given the highest priority was kindness, said the researchers.