Word: altruism
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Evolutionary psychologists have a cynical term for cooperative, procommunity behaviors like buying a Prius or shopping at Whole Foods or carrying a public-radio tote bag: competitive altruism. Cynical, but accurate. As several studies (like this one) have shown, altruistic people achieve higher status, and are much more likely to behave altruistically in situations where their actions are public than when they will go unnoticed. Competitive altruism explains why soldiers jump onto grenades during war (their clans will reap the rewards) and why vain CEOs build hospital wings (they enjoy the social renown that they could never acquire from closing...
...weeks ago, at the Association for Psychological Science convention in San Francisco, Griskevicius presented new research that furthers the competitive-altruism theory. Traditionally, economists have presumed that if people are seeking status, they will simply buy the most luxurious product they can afford. But Griskevicius and his colleagues - Joshua Taylor of the University of New Mexico and Bram Van den Bergh of the Rotterdam School of Management - theorized that when given an eco-friendly alternative, competitive altruism would compel people to forgo luxury for environmental status. To test the theory, they conducted several experiments...
...Unfortunately, direct empirical analysis linking the role of ethical and moral values to happiness has been very limited. More typical, and still highly interesting, has been the study of how pro-social behavior, such as altruism, or other specific components of an ethical life, influence happiness. Voluntarism, for example, is a specific pro-social behavior that provides a good measure of altruism. In fact, volunteer work is one of the most practiced and important pro-social activities across the globe. Of adults in the U.S., 50 percent participate in volunteer activities, doing the amount of labor in a year...
...their insurance,” said Herring, who is now doing a residency in emergency medicine in Oakland, Calif. “They donate from an altruistic sense of wanting to help someone else. Out of respect for that motive, the health care system needs to reflect the same altruism, which means allocation of organs irrespective of ability...
Rabbi David J. Wolpe and psychology professor Steven Pinker debated the existence of God and the benefits of faith at Harvard Hillel last night. The discussion, which focused on questions of morality and whether altruism can exist without faith, was cosponsored by Hillel and the Harvard Book Store to promote Wolpe’s new book, “Why Faith Matters.” Wolpe—named the number one pulpit rabbi in America by Newsweek earlier this year—and Pinker—an avowed atheist and best-selling author of books on the human mind...