The Psychology of Altruism

You might have heard people say this, “Give without expecting anything in return” or “Help selflessly”. These acts of kindness won’t get you help from that person for granted or a gift from that person you just helped. But if you are still able to do something for them without thinking about yourself in particular, you might be showing altruistic behaviour. Altruism is an unselfish, selfless, and volunteer act of concern for others’ wellbeing. When you are intentionally helping and supporting others without any external gain it’s called altruistic behavior. In today’s world when people are conditioned to mistrust others, altruism is needed.

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Altruism can look like;

1. Sharing lunch with a friend.
2. Showing concern for others.
3. Riding your friend home if he/she falls sick.
4. Helping your friend when he/she is crossing the road.
5. Giving up on the things that might cost someone else’s happiness.
6. Giving money to someone without expecting them to give it back to you.

These were a few examples of altruism. We can understand from these that little acts of kindness, that might benefit others without the expectation or need to fulfil personal gains, can be called altruism.

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Types of Altruism

We can widely divide altruism into 4 types. A person might have one or more types of altruistic behavior helping him/her to help others selflessly.

• Group-Selected Altruism: As the name suggests, it is selecting people who are either part of their group or support the agenda of their group.
• Genetic Altruism: In genetic Altruism, a family member engages in altruistic acts to help their family members. Altruism in the family can look like parents taking time to spend with the child, or making weekend day-out plans with the child, etc.
• Pure Altruism: Pure Altruism, also regarded as moral altruism involves helping others even when it is a risk to yourself and without any reward. A pure altruistic person is internally motivated by morals and beliefs of themselves. Pure altruistic behaviour is rare.
• Reciprocal Altruism: Although altruism is all about doing things for people without any expectation, this type of altruistic behaviour is based on a give-and-take relation. Here the person helping the other expects the other person to help them back, or at least promise to help them back at some point of time in the future. This can look like lending money to someone and expecting to get it back, or cooking dinner for someone to make them feel good and expecting them to do the same thing for you.

Why Do People Become Altruistic?

It is evident so far that not everyone is altruistic. So what causes people to become altruistic? According to Social psychology, altruism is a part of the umbrella term prosocial behaviour. Prosocial behaviour is a beneficial act for others where the person helping can be motivated and benefitted by anything. While all altruistic acts are prosocial, not all prosocial acts are altruistic. The motivation can be internal or external, like obligation and duty or rewards and recognition.

There can be several reasons why people become Altruistic. As children, some of us might have liked sharing while others didn’t. For those who love doing such little acts of kindness to others can be inherently altruistic. Apart from that, altruism is somewhat reactive- we help others when we see others in need. A lot of times, we imagine ourselves in that position and think, what if we were in this situation and no one helped? This idea might be a motivating factor for a lot of people providing help to others.

Although the genetic and reactive part of this kind of behaviour is true, Altruism can also be learned. It can be learned through e social norms and modelling. Research suggests that, although the general population’s altruistic behaviour can be due to learned or inherent. Some extreme altruists may differ from others in terms of the size of their amygdala. The amygdala is associated with decision-making, motivation, memory, and processing of emotions. Also for some people religion and culture may be involved in their altruistic behaviour being evident.

According to evolutionary theory, an interest in helping close kin spread those shared genes by surviving and reproducing. This represents a sort of favouritism called “kin selection”. Kin selection explains why individuals are more motivated to help close friends, family, and relatives than strangers.

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Ways to Promote Altruism

• Practice mindfulness.
• Show empathy towards others.
• Read fiction and nonfiction books.
• Maintain a gratitude journal every day.
• Try to perform little acts of kindness every day.
• Consume media that encourages people to be more kind.

Why Altruism is Needed?

In this age of social media, it’s sad that social media is making people isolated and lonely. Social media and other sorts of media make us believe in personas of people and society which doesn’t even exist in reality. For example, “perfect skin”, “perfect personality” etc. Another thing that is lacking nowadays is small acts of kindness. People distrust others and believe it is better to not ask for help. But is it really what humans are supposed to do? Can’t we show a little generosity and cooperate with others when in need? Altruistic behaviour and generosity help us share bonds of love and help us stay in a more reliable world, where all of us are part of a tight-knit group.

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