Analysis of Real Altruism Essay - 1667 Words

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†¦show more content†¦Evolutionary psychologists like Rushton (1991) argue how altruism is part of evolution that originates from genetic purposes. Most studies show that people would rather help a relative or a friend that they have known fo r a long time instead of someone they are not related or don’t have a connection too. It is understandable that helping a relative or someone we have known for a while could be a normal thing and bring us benefit in some way, but it is hard to explain when people and animals show compassion for complete strangers. This apparent altruistic behavior suggests that real altruism does exist. To study this opinion some tried to look at the emotions and cognitive things that were happening to the person before they were helping this person. Piliavin, 1981, as cited in Hogg and Vaughan, 2008, suggested that the act of not helping someone in need could result in costing the people around them. These could be either an emphatic or of a personal nature. That is, the person helping someone may feel bad if choosing not to help someone. They did a study on three cognitive areas a person standing there goes through before knowing or thinking what the outcome may be from helping that person. First the person suffers from physiological arousal, which means to feel distressful or uncomfortable in the troubles of that person. Secondly, the person around this person needs to deal with this feeling. As explained by Vaughan and Hogg, this feeling aloneShow MoreRelatedKant And Kant s Theory1368 Words   |  6 Pages578) Chapter12: Question 8 What is altruism? Should we try to encourage it? If so, why? If not, why not? Altruism is a term that was coined by the scholar auguste Comte meaning selflessness. It is the principle that argues that people should worry about the welfare of others rather than their self-interests alone. Altruism is virtues that is widely encouraged in most religious groups and have been practiced by many traditional societies. 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