The word “Altruism” derived from a Latin word called “Alter” which means “other”. Example for altruism behavior is as someone donates another person one of organs to save his life. So are we either genuinely motivated to be an altruistic or behave just for self-interest?
Psychologist suggests that number of reasons why altruism exist.
Biological Reasons -
Kin selection – People are more altruistic towards their relations because it transmits genes to future generations. Dr. Andy, the biologist has explained individuals practice favoritism by being altruistic towards their relatives just because they share genes in common with them. Researchers have had evidence for that altruistic behavior relatively influenced by genetic and people with identical genes show a similar pattern of altruism.
Neurological Reasons –
Neurobiologists have found that when people engaged in such act, the pleasure centers of the brain tends to active.
Social Norms –
People engage in altruistic behavior because of the pressure of social rules and norms.
The norm of reciprocity- When someone has done something to us as a help, society expecting from us to help him back.
Cognitive Reasons –
Even though the altruism means doing things for others without expecting a return, there may still be cognitive reinforcements. As an example we do help people to reduce our own guiltiness or just because doing generous things make a feeling of ourselves as generous.
Some of the cognitive explanations.
Empathy - people are more likely to engage in altruism when they feel sympathy for the person who is in a pain.
Why altruism exist and whether the "pure" altruism exists are two issues challenged by social psychologists. Do we give our helping hand genuinely for the true reason of altruism or do we have any hidden selfish reason in our altruistic behavior? Daniel Batson explained that people do often behave altruistically for selfish reasons but he believes true altruism can exist. R. B Cialdini said that empathy for others is one of the main reasons for helping others.
References:
Doris, J., Stich, S., & Walmsley, L. (2020, January 6). Empirical Approaches to Altruism. Retrieved May 19, 2020, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-empirical/
Eton, K. (2011). Is there any Altruism gene, Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/is_there_an_altruism_gene
Okasha, Samir, "Biological Altruism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/altruism-biological
