Helping someone in need or getting the feeling of wanting to help someone in need is something that happens in everyone’s life. It is a common thought that animals help each other expecting to gain something in return. But in some cases, helping is not linked to immediate returning benefits or these are inexistent. This type of behavior has caught the attention of psychologists interested in understanding the ideas and thoughts behind it. Can this be considered real altruism? Psychologists have been studying this issue suggesting different ideas to explain altruistic behavior. This essay will talk about altruism and some of the real ideas over the thinking that altruistic behavior comes from real altruistic ideas, helping with the goal of benefiting others, without any self-benefit.
The discussion over the real thoughts of altruistic behavior is not a new idea and has been in papers for long time, from Aristotle to Freud (Batson and Shaw, 1991). The view of most psychologists, philosophers and biologists was that egoistic ideas for most part was of human behaviors. Pro-social behavior is considered and studied different from other human behaviors because it is the only thing that is looked for as benefit or punishment. Altruism is considered a part of the pro-social behavior (Hogg and Vaughan, 2008). Auguste Comte make up the word altruism when writing about the two different ideas, egoism versus altruism, which are always in a person`s thinking and that make-up the person`s behavior`s. Altruism refers to those social acts that are “an expression of an unselfish desire to live for others” (Comte, as cited in Batson and Shaw, 1991, p108). Despite the pro-social meaning, most psychologists through the years have held ...
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By definition, altruism is "the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others". Through vigorous analysis, however, I have established it to be a complex ideology whose followers can be divided into three categories: slaves, abusers, and advocates. The slave abides by the ideals of 'pure' altruism. In other words, he does not act according to personal need or desire; humanity is all that matters. This is altruism in its purest form and is the branch of altruism which envelopes Catherine and allows her to feel a sense of purpose. Yet, much more common is the abuser of altruism. He is the altruist who ascertains and seizes any opportunity for personal gain by abusing the ostensibly philanthropic ideology. As ironic as this seems, it is common practice for one to proffer with the intention of receiving something in return. Peter Keating demonstrates how such an abuser manipulates altruism into a golden ladder by which he may reach success. Reigning over even the most conniving abuser is the omnipot...
If one wishes to be a psychological egoist, then one needs to explain why people do certain actions that appear to be genuine acts of altruism.
• Once more, the ordinary science’ proves itself as the master of classification, inventing and defining the various categories of Egoism. Per example, psychological egoism, which defines doctrine that an individual is always motivated by self-interest, then rational egoism which unquestionably advocates acting in self-interest. Ethical egoism as diametrically opposite of ethical altruism which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if sacrifices own interest. Also, ethical egoism differs from both rational and psychological egoism in ‘defending’ doctrine which considers all actions with contributive beneficial effects for an acting individual
One can imagine a clan of chimpanzees plotting their charge against the red colobus monkey. Angier’s account of this battle is a story of the altruistic colobus, standing bravely in the shadow of its aggressor, the mammoth chimpanzee, and attempting to protect the rest of the colobus herd (Angier 53). Angier writes, “As [biologists] see it, the roots of altruistic behavior far predate Homo sapiens, and that is why it seems to flow forth so readily once tapped” (Angier 52). She presents us with these findings to describe the origins of altruism, suggesting that it is an inherent trait passed down to us from our evolutionary ancestors. The notion that altruism came from an act of conflict is more telling of our evolutionary nature. Ask the chimpanzees of brotherhood and compassion and they will respond with rhetoric of the treacherous and deceptive ways of the colobus. They would have us believe that there is no finer deed than to rid the Earth of these miscreants. As the chimpanzees pursued their victims through the trees, was it altruism that flowed through their veins? No, a vile and decadent hostility surged forth from their pores instead. As with our chimpanzee relatives, our altruism is only there when it suits us. Our hostile nature defies us as, time and again, we choose conflict over charity and boundaries over
Generosity and trustworthiness are two personality traits that have a heavy correlation. There is evidence that trustworthiness can be proven to another person through acts of generosity. In the experiment described in this article, people are tested to see how trustworthy they are based on how generous they are in a given situation. The people in this experiment are given no reason to be generous, and their response will show how trustworthy they are. Ten sessions were given in which five people were recipients and five people were senders. They played a series of games that would determine how trustworthy and how generous they would be. The results were around 25 percent of the participants displayed generous traits during the games. A conclusion
Empathy, is a self-conscious characteristic human beings hold that allows them to understand another individual’s situation and feelings (Segal, Cimino, Gerdes &Wagaman, 2013). In regard to ho...
Altruism is selfless acts like someone willingly sacrificing their life for their child’s. When people show acts of altruism it is usually because they feel empathy for the person. They have feelings that reflect on how that person is feeling in the situation. We sacrifice ourselves for strangers in need to help reduce our personal distress of seeing them in need. Another reason is experiencing the feelings of the person in need. If a person sees someone having car trouble they will want to help because they remember having car trouble with no one around to help. They are sacrificing their wellbeing by pulling over to help, they could be putting themselves in a bad situation if the person is a criminal.
Post, S.G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: it’s good to be good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 12(2). 66-77. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1202_4
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, altruism is defined as an “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others”. In simpler terms, altruism is unconditional kindness. Altruistic behavior has been a controversial and obscure subject among biologists, including Charles Darwin, who was one of the first to try and explain this phenomenon. “To explain the evolution of altruism, Charles Darwin suggested that natural selection could act on groups as well as individuals--an idea known as group selection”(Schwartz). Group selection, which was based off of Darwin’s theory of natural selection, was the theory that an individual organism would sacrifice itself (seemingly selflessly) for the good of the entire population, hoping that its actions would save the group from annihilation and therefore allow for the continuation of the group’s gene flow into its descendants. Darwin explained that groups with members “ready to give aid to each other and sacrifice themselves for the com...
...t altruism cannot exists and if a reciprocal altruism appears it will later on change into egoism or it will be overtaken by the group’s leader, and his altruism or egoism.
Before a case can be made for the causes of altruism, altruism itself must first be defined. Most leading psychologists agree that the definition of altruism is “a motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare.” (Batson, 1981). The only way for a person to be truly altruistic is if their intent is to help the community before themselves. However, the only thing humans can see is the actions themselves, and so, selfish intent may seem the same as altruistic intent. Alas, the only way that altruism can be judged is if the intent is obvious. Through that, we must conclude that only certain intents can be defined as altruistic, and as intent stemming from nature benefits the group while other intent benefits yourself, only actions caused by nature are truly altruistic.
For someone who believes in psychological egoism, i t is difficult to find an action that would be acknowledged as purely altruistic. In practice, altruism, is the performance of duties to others with no view to any sort of personal...
One of the foremost issues with that of humanity is the inception of altruism- of why one would do something for someone else that in the process would encroach repercussions to one’s own wellbeing. Is human nature truly, fundamentally rooted in selfishness; or perhaps there is more to people than most expect? Nowadays in our increasingly interconnected world, people tend to focus on the ruthless competition humans entail as population increases, but most do not recognize that humans could not survive without the aid of charity from others. I feel that out of any aspect of human nature, it’s the altruistic values that assist people in their endeavors as they strive to reach into the dark haze of the unknown that is the future, and I myself focus on these values heavily.
Tait, D. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2009, 07 3). Personality Traits of Altruistic People: Empathy and the Big Five Factors. Retrieved from Edinburgh Research Archive: https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/3547
Lots of studies around animal behavior and neuroscience claim that empathy is not just restricted to humans but can be found in other mammals, more specifically dolphins (White, 2007). The brainstem, insula, hypothalamus, amygdala, basal ganglia and the orbitofrontal cortex are parts of the brain which are involved in how empathy is developed. (Decety & Scetlova, 2012). Decety (2011) argues that empathy has neurological and evolutionary traits and that the most advanced forms of empathy in humans are connected to mechanisms connected with social attachment and primary