Examples Of Altruism In Casablanca

Altruism and Relationships

People show acts of altruism when they see someone in need of help. In the movie “Casablanca”, Rick shows acts of altruism to people he cares about and strangers. People show altruism for numerous reasons to help form or keep a strong relationship.

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.

Rick cared about Ilsa so much that he stuck his neck out for her, even though he said he will not stick his neck out for anyone.

He sacrificed his happiness for Ilsa’s by giving her and Victor the visas so they would be safe. He shoots the police officer who was going to call for the plane to stop. He knew he had to kill him so Ilsa and Victor could get away to America. He could have been put into jail for shooting the police officer he sacrificed his wellbeing for theirs. When the young girl comes to Rick to ask about the man selling the visas he lets her husband win ten thousand dollars so the girl would not have to pay for the visas in other ways. He could have been caught cheating and lost peoples trust. He could have lost the business and trust of the people who are always gambling and buying drinks at

Rick’s.
People have the want to help people in trouble even if they do not know them by the way people have treated them.
Trivers introduced the theory of reciprocal altruism, stating that individuals possesses inherent altruistic tendencies, resulting in behavior that benefits another organism, not closely related, while being apparently detrimental to the organism performing the behavior (Jung 161).
If someone gives their friend money to help them in a rough spot Jung says that friends are more generous paying more money than what was due than strangers are. Strangers tend to only give what was given to them. No matter how good or bad the relationship is people will be more willing to help when they have been treated well. Soft core altruism is when the person’s self-conscious mind thinks they will receive a reward for doing the act. “Importantly, this soft-core reciprocal altruism exists beyond immediate kin and commonly occurs in everyday interaction” (Jung 161). This relationship is between close friends and the person that does the self-less act thinks that help will be repaid eventually.