Altruism is when we act to promote someone else’s welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves. Though some believe that humans are fundamentally self-interested, recent research suggests otherwise: Studies have found that people’s first impulse is to cooperate rather than compete; that toddlers spontaneously help people in need out of a genuine concern for their welfare; and that ...
But in his new book Does Altruism Exist?, David Sloan Wilson says these arguments miss the point. Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University, argues that what really drives altruism in society is not the intention of the person, good or bad, but the altruistic act itself and its effect on the community—in other words, its evolutionary function ...
Altruism results in deeper and more positive social integration,distractionfrompersonalproblemsandthe anxiety of self-preoccupation, enhanced meaning and purposeasrelatedtowell-being,amoreactivelifestyle that counters cultural pressures toward isolated passiv-ity, and the presence of positive emotions such as kind-ness that displace harmful ...
QUIZZES Altruism Quiz Are you a giver or a Grinch? Tis the season for generosity. But how important is it to you to help others? To find out—and get tips for becoming more altruistic—take this quiz, which is based on a scale developed by psychologist Gary S. Nickell of Moorhead State University.
If the empathy-altruism hypothesis is correct, it would have broad theoretical implications, for few if any major theories of motivation allow for the possibility of truly altruistic motivation (cf. Bolles, 1975, for a review).
This is the first study to link altruism to a specific gene. Psychologist Sebastian Markett, a study co-author also at the University of Bonn, says the results show how a single genetic mutation can have a large effect on our behavior. But he believes science still has much to learn about the genetics of altruism.