Altruism Psychology
Altruism in psychology refers to the selfless concern for the well-being of others. It involves acts of kindness and generosity without expecting anything in return. Psychologists study altruism to understand the motivations and underlying mechanisms that drive people to help others, and its impact on individual and collective well-being.
7 Key excerpts on "Altruism Psychology"
- Jessica Kuper, Jessica Kuper(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Altruism DOI: 10.4324/9781315677101-7 For thousands of years philosophers have been intrigued by the problem of altruism, whether considering its status as a virtue, or debating its part in human nature. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British philosophers in particular, including Bentham, Hobbes, Locke, Mill, Sidgwick and Smith, argued at length about the psychological genuineness of human benevolence. It was the French philosopher, Auguste Comte, however, who originated the term, placing it in opposition to egoism. He believed the purpose of an advanced society was to foster the love of humanity, and that positivistic science, especially the discipline of sociology (a term he also coined), would produce this new set of values. More recently, behavioural scientists from several disciplines have examined the concept of altruism more objectively (Rushton and Sorrentino, 1981). The definition of altruism is a matter of controversy. Some define it in terms of underlying motivations such as empathy or intention, while others prefer definitions in terms of behavioural effects such as ‘that which benefits others’. One advantage of the behavioural definition is that it finesses the endless and fruitless debate as to whether such a thing as ‘true’ altruism exists. Defining altruism behaviourally does not, of course, preclude looking for the underlying motivation. It also allows the concept to be applied to animals. In regard to motives, a number of internal mediators have been suggested. Among these are role-taking ability, empathic emotion, guilt, ideas of justice, personal values and social norms. There has been much research and model building on these hypothesized processes (Rushton and Sorrentino, 1981)...
- (Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
...Altruism Melissa Yue and Emma A. Climie Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary Altruism Altruism refers to the act of helping or benefiting others on an individual or societal level and is often synonymous with being selfless or prosocial. More specifically, altruism occurs when an individual voluntarily assists another despite the cost of time, money, or other resources required to help. Altruistic behaviors include sharing, donating, co‐operating, or volunteering. For example, a man who goes into a burning house to save a child would be considered to have acted altruistically; he has performed a positive action to benefit others or society with no expectation of personal reward or benefit. The decision to help someone varies between individuals and situations. Individuals must see the need to help and feel they have the proper resources to give adequate assistance. Even when a need is identified and the resources are available, an individual’s personality or beliefs can also influence whether a person will commit to helping. However, some altruistic behaviors may not appear to be helpful at first. For example, Murielle decides not to help her friend, Albert, complete his homework on time because she wants him to learn the material himself and to prioritize his work next time. Albert might feel that Murielle is being mean; however, Murielle has his best interest at heart. Alternatively, an altruistic individual can punish someone who is behaving poorly in order to correct the behavior. These altruistic punishments serve as a way to redirect undesirable, selfish behaviors that deviate from a society’s standard of fairness as well as to aid the victim (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2003). Theoretical Views Different perspectives on altruism have emerged in biology, anthropology, and psychology. The biological perspective focuses on the costs and benefits associated with helping another...
eBook - ePub- John F. Dovidio, Jane Allyn Piliavin, David A. Schroeder, Louis A. Penner(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...These scholars bring philosophical, psychological, and biological perspectives to the topic. They also bring different terminologies. One problem, therefore, is agreeing on a definition of the term altruism. In chapter 1, we defined altruism in terms of people's intentions and motivations when they offered help to another person. We distinguished it from helping, which is defined by its consequences rather than by its intentions. Helping is an act that benefits another person. These definitions represent a social psychological perspective. For biologists and evolutionary theorists who work with a variety of different species (such as ants, bees, mice, and monkeys), however, intentions in a human sense often do not apply or are impossible to assess. Thus, these researchers use the term altruism to refer broadly to any action that involves some costs for the helper but increases the likelihood that other members of their species will survive, reproduce, and thus pass their genes on to successive generations. So, for these scientists, the beneficiary of altruism is not a particular individual but a particular gene pool. Because this chapter primarily examines the biological bases of prosocial actions, we adopt a biological perspective and the terminology that accompanies it. Nature and/or Nurture A second difficulty with answering the question about whether people are altruistic by nature involves the dynamic and complex nature of altruistic behavior. Evolutionary theorists and geneticists have long understood how certain physical traits are genetically determined. Eye color is inherited from parents; each of them passes on genes for eye color to a child, and the combination of their dominant and recessive genes determines what the child's eye color will be. In addition, there have been some remarkable recent advances in our knowledge of genes and how they affect people throughout their lifetimes...
eBook - ePub- Mark Schaller, Jeffry A. Simpson, Douglas T. Kenrick, Mark Schaller, Jeffry A. Simpson, Douglas T. Kenrick(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...We hope that the readers of this chapter will take up the challenge to conduct further research on altruism, which connects social psychological and evolutionary perspectives. Only then will we move toward a more complete understanding of one of the great puzzles of human behavior, altruism. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The first author was supported by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust Foundation (F/00180/L). NOTES 1. The social psychological literature draws a distinction between altruism and prosocial behavior (Batson, 1998; Penner et al., 2005). Prosocial behavior refers to any kind of action that benefits others and is motivated by a variety of interpersonal motives, including pursuit of various self-rewards. In contrast, altruism refers to the underlying motivation to increase the welfare of others. In this chapter, we will use these terms interchangeably, because we are primarily interested in understanding actions in which there is an underlying intention to help others. If that is not the case, there is not much interesting to be explained. For example, a pedestrian on a zebra crossing who accidentally steps in front of a ear, thereby injuring himself, but saving another person's life is helping the other person. But this is not a ease of altruism, and therefore requires no theoretical explanation. Only if the pedestrian steps in front of the car for the purpose of saving the other's life are we dealing with a case of altruism, which needs to be explained. 2. This example is reminiscent of the well-known hawks and doves example in the evolutionary biological literature, where over time the outcomes of peaceful interactions between doves exceed the outcomes of repeated interactions between hawks and doves, or hawk-hawk interactions (Maynard-Smith & Price, 1973). 3. This is not to deny that there were no other social problems than social dilemmas in the ancestral world...
eBook - ePub- John D. DeLamater, Jessica L. Collett(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...They may include such things as gratitude from the victim, admiration and approval from others, financial rewards and prizes, and recognition for efforts. People will help more if they anticipate rewards such as status enhancement (Bienenstock & Bianchi, 2004; Kerber, 1984). Even small rewards—like the small chocolate that the local Goodwill offers with every donation—tend to increase individuals’ helping behavior. Getting something in return helps people make a self-interested justification for the behavior (Holmes, Miller, & Lerner, 2002; Perlow & Weeks, 2002). The form of help that someone offers may depend on the specific rewards they seek, and these may, in turn, depend on their own needs. Contributors to Wikipedia, for example, value the knowledge and prestige they derive from contributing. Both support their desire to see themselves as intellectuals, as well as competent and credible content creators (Rafaeli & Ariel, 2008). Altruism and Empathetic Concern People often react to the distress of others on an emotional level and offer help in response. The term empathy refers to the vicarious experience of an emotion that is congruent with—or possibly identical to—the emotion that another person is experiencing (Barnett, 1987; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987). For example, when a mother sees her child in pain, she may experience a very similar emotion to the child. There is considerable evidence that feelings of empathy for a person in need will lead to helping behavior (Batson et al., 1981; Dovidio, Allen, & Schroeder, 1990; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987; Fultz et al., 1986). The Empathy-Altruism Model. The empathy-altruism model proposes that adults can experience two distinct states of emotional arousal while witnessing another’s suffering: distress and empathy. Distress involves unpleasant emotions such as shock, alarm, worry, and upset at seeing another person suffer...
eBook - ePubDoing Good
Passion and Commitment for Helping Others
- Jeffrey A. Kottler(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...At one point, he believed his whole theory was in jeopardy unless he could unravel this “irrational” behavior. When E. O. Wilson (1975) adapted evolutionary theory to examine social behavior, he also wrestled with the phenomenon of altruism as the ultimate theoretical challenge, preferring to stay away from humans as much as possible. Since that time, quite a number of scholars and writers have tackled the subject of altruism, including evolutionary psychologists (Sober & Wilson, 1998), sociologists (Jeffries, 1998), social psychologists (Batson, 1986; Rushton, 1976), developmental psychologists (Eisenberg, 1982; Zahn-Waxler, 1983), organizational psychologists (Korsgaard, Beglino, & Lester, 1997), evolutionary biologists (Dugatkin, 1999; Trivers, 1971), science writers (Hunt, 1990; Kohn, 1990; Wright, 1994), and philosophers (Singer, 1981). What most of these researchers conclude is that altruism is only part of what drives people to do good for others. Furthermore, the motives of philanthropists are often very different from that of rescuers or heroines (Monroe, 1996). Nevertheless, a certain amount of generosity and giving does turn out to be evolutionarily functional, if not for the individual, then certainly for the larger community. We are all connected to one another through our shared genetic material, argues cellular biologist Lewis Thomas (1983); we all originated from the same ancestral cell. “We have an enormous family to look after,” he says. We must “acknowledge these family ties,” he urges further, “and with them, the obligations” (pp. 106–107). Why Being Generous Is Better Than Being Selfish, Evolutionarily Speaking If you know the least bit about evolutionary theory, then you know that among plants and animals most developments and behavior are intended to be adaptive...
eBook - ePubLeadership in Nonprofit Organizations
A Reference Handbook
- Kathryn A. Agard(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...(p. 292) The cumulative result of Batson’s studies shifted the tide, such that his erstwhile critic John Dovidio acknowledged, “The burden of proof has now, ironically, shifted to those who argue for universal egoism” (Dovidio, 1991, p. 127). Repeated studies supported the empathy-altruism hypothesis that empathic arousal will produce altruistic motivations in prosocial behavior. Indeed, an abundance of studies on this hypothesis over the past 3 decades have forged a prominent theoretical footing for it. Many of the behaviors we may have considered the result of reciprocity or group and kin selection might now be attributable to empathy (de Waal, 2008; Dovidio, 1991). Frans de Waal (2008) observed that it requires a shift in perspective to move an individual “beyond being sensitive to others toward an explicit other-orientation” (p. 285) In addition to the biological mechanisms that help actors perceive and interpret another person’s emotional state and that give individuals “an emotional stake” in others’ welfare, there are empathic mechanisms that help actors shift to an empathic “other-orientation.” Among large-brained species, such as cetaceans, apes, and humans, these mechanisms open the door to “intentionally altruistic altruism,” by which the actor studies the dynamics of a situation and looks for a way to benefit another within the perceptible variables. On this level, the altruistic actor is free to choose either to act for self-benefit or to act for another’s benefit (p. 292). Social Developments of the Altruistic Impulse Much of the data that contextualizes these choices for humans derive from the social institutions and practices that coevolved with the expanding brain. These data inform the humans’ choices through culturally constructed windows and through interpretive metaphors that help humans make sense of the data they receive. First among these institutions are the families and communities in which humans live...
