Altruism: The Importance Of Helping Other People

Many different religions teach virtues about compassion and the importance of helping other people. Altruism can be defined as helping others for their sake, not your own. Mattis et al. (2009) notes that altruistic behavior is voluntary, content with not receiving rewards, and positively benefiting the welfare of others. An individual’s religious outlook may be a determinant in how helpful a person can be. The number of people that affiliate themselves with a religion has grown. Today, 98.7% of Americans practice religion (Pew Research Center, 2015). Religion is defined as any faith that has an organized system of beliefs. Many faith sets have a moral code about tells the follower to handle a situation when people are in need. Followers need …show more content…
He proposed a theory to explain this phenomenon. The empathy–altruism hypothesis predicts that those feeling high levels of empathy for a person in need will be more likely to help than those feeling less empathy (Schroeder & Graziano, 2015). The levels of empathy potentially increase if the person uses their faith as a basis for their decision; however, this is determined by the individual’s motivation behind helping (Wilhelm, Rooney, and Tempel, 2007). Extrinsically motivated people are more inclined to help if given certain rewards or recognition afterwards. Intrinsically motivated people are driven by internal rewards such as personal goals. Though, these findings do not always predict the behavior of individuals who not confirm religious …show more content…
In order to help, the bystander must feel certain qualities. The bystander must have a personal connection towards the individual and or the bystander has gone through a similar situation. Many people believe that helping others is not their duty. The story of the Good Samaritan does not always apply to non- religious people. Many people assume that a non-religious individual needs would not help someone in need. Chris and Uta Firth (2013) believe that altruism is a biological process. This theory explains any behavior that increases the survival of a species without any benefits. Due to evolution, all animals have automatic response to help. Some suppress the thought and some act on it. Additionally, the closer two organisms are related, the more likely it is that altruism will be considered (Lehmann and Keller, 2006). The amount of altruism in humans does not have any influence when the individual practices