Altruistic behavior has been undermined for centuries, as numerous psychologists, philosophers, and sociologists insisted on a so-called selfish gene and the existence of certain motives behind each altruistic act. For the most part, scholars were used to arguing against pure altruism, the behavior that entirely rejects human egotistical nature. However, more updated studies on altruism have proved, if not the existence of pure altruism then, at least, the possibility of one’s placing the welfare of others over personal interests. As a result, these recent findings on altruism are likely to put the debates over it into a new context, visibly challenging a pseudo-altruistic scholarly approach.
On the one hand, starting from Charles Darwin’s …show more content…
The first intrinsic motivation, namely social-learning one, refers to one’s moral responses acquired through the process of socialization. These mainly include altruistic behavior learned thanks to the observed parental modeling as well as obtained because of behavior-contingent learning influences (Feigin, Owens, & Goodyear-Smith, 2014). The discussed motivation intersects with another incentive of altruism, the intensity of moral duty. The latter refers to the acute feeling of responsibility, the desire to follow the structure of personal norms, and values. Although such altruism may seem like the most restricted in personal advantage, it still does not assume the pure desire to be helpful. The third motive, stress dealing, includes the struggle against the feelings of guilt, anxiety, and distress that appear if one person observes the sufferings of another one (Feigin, Owens, & Goodyear-Smith, 2014). In this case, in order to facilitate the tension of negative emotions, an individual chooses altruistic behavior. Finally, ego-reward motivation involves the expectations to increase self-esteem and self-satisfaction, improve self-image, satisfy the honor, or act reciprocally in response to one’s …show more content…
The researchers reduplicated the experiment conducted by their colleagues, yet now people have to choose between donating cash to charity or leaving it for themselves. In turn, the scholars focused more not on the results of the experiment, already expecting high altruism rates, but on the brain regions, associated with value and rewards (Hubbard et al. 2016). For more accurate results, they also provided psychological portraits of the participants (Hubbard et al. 2016). Thus, the findings proved the existence of pure altruism again as well as revealed that 45+-years-old people are much eager for expressing general benevolence than younger ones (Hubbard et al. 2016). At the same time, the scholars insisted on the necessity of further research on the reasons for pure altruism rise during the adult life span.
To summarize, altruism remains one of the most disputable themes in the scholarly circles, while the existence of pure altruism tends to be denied from the very beginning. Nevertheless, during the last decades, the scientific moods related to altruism have significantly changed, taking into account that the recent studies proved its
On the one hand, starting from Charles Darwin’s …show more content…
The first intrinsic motivation, namely social-learning one, refers to one’s moral responses acquired through the process of socialization. These mainly include altruistic behavior learned thanks to the observed parental modeling as well as obtained because of behavior-contingent learning influences (Feigin, Owens, & Goodyear-Smith, 2014). The discussed motivation intersects with another incentive of altruism, the intensity of moral duty. The latter refers to the acute feeling of responsibility, the desire to follow the structure of personal norms, and values. Although such altruism may seem like the most restricted in personal advantage, it still does not assume the pure desire to be helpful. The third motive, stress dealing, includes the struggle against the feelings of guilt, anxiety, and distress that appear if one person observes the sufferings of another one (Feigin, Owens, & Goodyear-Smith, 2014). In this case, in order to facilitate the tension of negative emotions, an individual chooses altruistic behavior. Finally, ego-reward motivation involves the expectations to increase self-esteem and self-satisfaction, improve self-image, satisfy the honor, or act reciprocally in response to one’s …show more content…
The researchers reduplicated the experiment conducted by their colleagues, yet now people have to choose between donating cash to charity or leaving it for themselves. In turn, the scholars focused more not on the results of the experiment, already expecting high altruism rates, but on the brain regions, associated with value and rewards (Hubbard et al. 2016). For more accurate results, they also provided psychological portraits of the participants (Hubbard et al. 2016). Thus, the findings proved the existence of pure altruism again as well as revealed that 45+-years-old people are much eager for expressing general benevolence than younger ones (Hubbard et al. 2016). At the same time, the scholars insisted on the necessity of further research on the reasons for pure altruism rise during the adult life span.
To summarize, altruism remains one of the most disputable themes in the scholarly circles, while the existence of pure altruism tends to be denied from the very beginning. Nevertheless, during the last decades, the scientific moods related to altruism have significantly changed, taking into account that the recent studies proved its