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.

Sources: https://altruismtoday.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-altruism/