Egoism or Altruism? Hard-Nosed Experiments and Deep Philosophical Questions - Brown & Maner - Article

Human beings are capable of immense acts of kindness, heroism, and generosity. Often at the expense of their own personal wealth or safety. But is it possible that even extraordinary acts of kindness are ultimately guided by self-centered motives? Psychologist Bob Cialdini tried to answer this question and has helped bring answers to some of the most fundamental questions about human nature.

Cialdini, egoism and altruism

Cialdini, who wrote Social Influence which made him famous, suggested that true altruism might be an illusion. Altruistic acts might instead be caused by self-centered motivations, such as the desire to avoid guilt or to enhance one’s own mood.

Professor Daniel Batson

Cialdini’s views do not remain uncontested. For example, Professor Daniel Batson proclaimed that altruism is alive and well in human prosocial behavior. His view is that truly selfless acts could arise out of a feeling of empathic concern for another person. Evidence for this theory is that factors that increase empathy (perspective-taking, shared group membership) also increase the likelihood of aiding a person in need of help.

Cialdini

Cialdini argued that witnessing an individual in need provokes a variety of aversive feelings in potential helpers (such as sadness, guilt, and personal distress). He demonstrated experimentally that it was the desire to reduce one’s own negative feelings, rather than the desire to benefit the other person, that motivates one to help. Therefore the act would not be truly selfless.

Causes and consequences

Batson countered that even though self-rewards may be a consequence of the act of helping another person, they are not necessarily the cause. The action can still be motivated by a desire to help the other person. Both scientists agreed then, that whether or not true altruism exists comes down to what factors motivate the prosocial action. They just did not agree on what those motivators are.

Oneness

Oneness, or self-other merging, is the notion that our sense of self can include overlap with other people. According to Cialdini this would make true altruism impossible, because if the self and the other are not seen as truly separate entities, it is not possible to help another without helping oneself. For example, a family member carries some of the same genes as yourself, making it favorable to help that person from an evolutionary standpoint. This is not selfless. Cialdini found that whereas empathy mediated effects on helping, this was no longer the case when the experiment controlled for oneness. Also, when helping could only occur at great personal cost, empathy was found not to be a strong enough motivator for altruistic behavior.

Is care-giving a fundamental human motive?

The question now is whether oneness really is a nonaltruistic motivator. Why does helping others seem to have so many benefits for the self, such as create a positive mood and relieve distress? And why does seeing others’ pain make us feel distressed in the first place? From an evolutionary perspective it makes sense to help a family member, because indirectly we are helping ourselves, or at least our own genes. Or we might help someone because they are likely to return a favor (reciprocal altruism). But people often help complete strangers, in which case the costs of helping often appear to far outweigh any immediate or long-term benefits to the self.

Social bonds

The authors of this chapter propose that the experience of feeling bonded to another person could be the motivational mechanism for costly helping, whether or not that person is a stranger. Social bonds might be designed by evolution to help individuals inhibit self-centered impulses in ways that favor the motivation to give help to others.

Selective investment theory and fitness interdependence.

This idea led to the selective investment theory, which states that the significant costs of allocating resources to non-relatives or nonreciprocators means that social bonds (because they motivate sacrifice) must emerge selectively when the benefit to fitness is high and the threat of exploitation is low. These conditions are met under states of fitness interdependence (FI) between two or more individuals. FI means that a helper increases the fitness outcomes for the other and for himself, and also that if the other exploits the helper, that would be detrimental to both. This implies that genuine signs of need trigger remarkable instances of sacrifice even for strangers, because the vulnerability implies a low probability of exploitation.

Implications of social bonding and prosocial behavior for physical health

Hormonal features of social bonds have positive implications for physical health. The neuropeptide oxytocin triggers helping behavior, and also has restorative physiological properties: it lowers levels of stress hormones and improves immune function and various cellular functions and repair. Indeed it seems that people in close relationships are healthier and live longer than do those who are socially isolated. This effect is especially strong for those who provide help to others rather than just receive support.

Beyond health psychology

Cialdini’s challenges to Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis drew attention from scientists outside of psychology: evolutionary biologists, neuroscientists and animal behaviorists paid close attention to the debate. This led to the revival of evolutionary theories of group selection, or multilevel selection, which state that actions that might compromise the fitness of the individual may occur anyway because they promote advantages in the group.

BulletPoints

• Professor Daniel Batson proclaimed that altruism is alive and well in human prosocial behavior. His view is that truly selfless acts could arise out of a feeling of empathic concern for another person. Evidence for this theory is that factors that increase empathy (perspective-taking, shared group membership) also increase the likelihood of aiding a person in need of help.
• Cialdini argued that witnessing an individual in need provokes a variety of aversive feelings in potential helpers (such as sadness, guilt, and personal distress). He demonstrated experimentally that it was the desire to reduce one’s own negative feelings, rather than the desire to benefit the other person, that motivates one to help. Therefore the act would not be truly selfless.
• Oneness, or self-other merging, is the notion that our sense of self can include overlap with other people. According to Cialdini this would make true altruism impossible, because if the self and the other are not seen as truly separate entities, it is not possible to help another without helping oneself.
• Selective investment theory states that the significant costs of allocating resources to non-relatives or nonreciprocators means that social bonds (because they motivate sacrifice) must emerge selectively when the benefit to fitness is high and the threat of exploitation is low.

ExamTickets

It is important to know the standpoints of both Cialdini and Batson, and how they differ in opinion about altruism. Pay attention to the concept of oneness and what it means for altruism. Finally, make sure you know what selective investment theory and fitness interdependence entail, what they mean for altruism and how they impact fitness of individual and groups.