Monday, April 1, 2019

Everything You Need to Know About Altruism



Like most other people, do you have a common question in your mind whether people help others without expecting something in return? Most people may say that it can never happen; everyone wants to gain something by each action they take for the welfare of others. But the psychology of altruism is quite different.

WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF ALTRUISM?

Altruism psychology is defined as the behavior of contributing to the well-being of others without planning any direct benefit to yourself. Sometimes, people even go out of their way to assist someone else in need, and the effort may even be harmful to their own life.
Some of you may consider altruism same as helping others, but there is a huge difference between both these terms. While helping others, a person may often think of his/her own benefit in some direct or indirect way. But this is not true in case of altruism. In this case, when you do something for others, it is only for their benefit, your personal benefit is not counted in your efforts.
For example, let us think about two scenarios: You move to some other state to help unknown people that are in trouble due to some natural disaster and in another case, you assist someone to fix a fault in their car that is stranded right in the middle of your driveway. Note that, in both cases, you are helping someone. However, in the first case you are trying to help other people to recover from trouble by leaving your own work and home. However, in another case you are trying to fix the car so that you can get the path to drive. The first case belongs to altruism whereas second is a state of helping others.
There are so many theories behind altruism; few of them are explained below:
Biological concept: As per biological theory, people are more desperate to help their blood relatives to ensure the healthy continuation of the shared genes. The close relations are usually benefitted as per this theory.
Neurological concept: Altruism works somewhere in the center of the brain. When we engage our efforts in the altruistic act, it naturally activates some pleasurable signals in our brain.
Environmental concept: One recent study also reveals that relationships and interactions with other people also leave a great influence on altruistic behavior.
Cognitive concept: In general, the definition of altruism is related to helping someone without thinking about any reward; there are few chances to avail some unexpected cognitive incentives. For example, the empathetic people help others to relieve their distress or to have a feeling of kindness for their personality.
Social concept: Well, we know that social rules and so does the social norms. As per the action of reciprocity, some social expectations pressurize us to do something for others without thinking about personal benefit. People simply feel obligated to someone to a
Like most other people, do you have a common question in your mind whether people help others without expecting something in return? Most people may say that it can never happen; everyone wants to gain something by each action they take for the welfare of others. But the psychology of altruism is quite different.

WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF ALTRUISM?

Altruism psychology is defined as the behavior of contributing to the well-being of others without planning any direct benefit to yourself. Sometimes, people even go out of their way to assist someone else in need, and the effort may even be harmful to their own life.
Some of you may consider altruism same as helping others, but there is a huge difference between both these terms. While helping others, a person may often think of his/her own benefit in some direct or indirect way. But this is not true in case of altruism. In this case, when you do something for others, it is only for their benefit, your personal benefit is not counted in your efforts.
For example, let us think about two scenarios: You move to some other state to help unknown people that are in trouble due to some natural disaster and in another case, you assist someone to fix a fault in their car that is stranded right in the middle of your driveway. Note that, in both cases, you are helping someone. However, in the first case you are trying to help other people to recover from trouble by leaving your own work and home. However, in another case you are trying to fix the car so that you can get the path to drive. The first case belongs to altruism whereas second is a state of helping others.
There are so many theories behind what is altruism. Here are a few explanations below:

Biological concept: As per biological theory, people are more desperate to help their blood relatives to ensure the healthy continuation of the shared genes. The close relations are usually benefitted as per this theory.
Neurological concept: Altruism works somewhere in the center of the brain. When we engage our efforts in the altruistic act, it naturally activates some pleasurable signals in our mind.
Environmental concept: One recent study also reveals that relationships and interactions with other people also leave a great influence on altruistic behavior.
Cognitive concept: In general, the definition of altruism is related to helping someone without thinking about any reward; there are few chances to avail some unexpected cognitive incentives. For example, the empathetic people help others to relieve their distress or to have a feeling of kindness for their personality.
Social concept: Well, we know that social rules and so does the social norms. As per the action of reciprocity, some social expectations pressurize us to do something for others without thinking about personal benefit. People simply feel obligated to someone to assist them probably, because the other person helped them earlier in need.

Friday, March 29, 2019

Types of Altruism Theories



Before anything, what is altruism? Altruism is referred to as the unselfish concern for other people’s wellbeing. Daily Life is filled with small acts of altruism or acts of kindness. That is from a grocery store vendor to the woman in the parking lot giving ten dollars to homeless street kids.

Do you know the theories behind altruism? If not, below are altruism theories.

BIOLOGICAL REASONS

This is an evolutionary theory which states that people are likely to help blood relatives because it increases the probability of gene transmission to the upcoming generations.

In other words, altruism unto close relatives occurs for a continuation of sharing genes. Hence, if people are genetically related, they have the highest chances of helping each other.


NEUROLOGICAL REASONS

Neurobiologists have found that altruism activates brain’s centers. The findings further state, when one engages in altruistic activities, pleasure centers of the brain instantly become active.

ENVIRONMENTAL REASONS

In regard to Stanford research, interactions and relationships can influence or enhance altruistic behavior.


SOCIAL NORMS

Social norms such as rules and expectations can either facilitate people to engage or not engage in altruistic acts. For instance, the norm of reciprocity is a social expectation where one feel pressured to help others if they have already done something to them like a situation where a friend loan you $30, you will feel compelled to loan him $ 100 when he requests you. He did something for you; you feel obligated to do something in return.

COGNITIVE REASONS

Altruism is defined as doing something for others without expecting rewards. But this is not the case on many occasions; there may be cognitive incentives that are not obvious. For instance, you may help others to relieve your distress or upholding the view of being kind.

EMPATHY

Researchers suggest that individuals are likely to engage in altruistic behavior due to the empathy they feel for distressed persons. This is known as the empathy-altruism hypothesis. In most cases, as the sense of empathy develops, children tend to become more altruistic.

HELPING RELIEVES NEGATIVE FEELINGS

Experts have proposed that when someone behaves altruistically, they relieve the negative feelings created when seeing someone else suffering. This is known as negative-state relief model.

Normally, seeing other people in agonies make many people feel upset, uncomfortable and distressed. Hence, helping the troubled person will reduce negative feelings.

COMPARING THE ALTRUISM THEORIES

The main point of contention is whether people engage in altruism for helping purposes or there are hidden benefits. Social psychologists believe that there’s true altruism in as much as some people may engage in altruism for selfish reasons.

VERDICT

For you to give or help someone, you have to be contended with what you have. You can’t give what you don’t have. The idea behind altruism is helping without expecting rewards.

No matter which circumstance or aspect that compels you help, ensure you are comfortable and you the capacity. Don’t engage in altruism if you got some challenges that need to be addressed. This is where many people go wrong.

Source: https://altruismtoday.com/types-of-altruism-theories/