The act of helping has been around since the dawn of mankind. Whether this act is something we learn by nature or by nurture is the question. History and research has taught us that humans are capable of being prosocial beings and displaying prosocial behaviors. Being prosocial and displaying helping actions have taught humans that we can build relationships with these actions. Altruistic helping has followed history and research as it is regarded as a genuine act of love and care without holding any connections or accountability with the person who is being helped (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Altruistic helping has been proven to come more from our nature rather than what we learn from culture. Through nature we are altruistic beings and through culture us being egotistic beings. Many cultures have shaped what is considered "good" overall for the society.
Auguste Comte was a philosopher in the 19th-century who held two very different views in the matter of why we help others. The first form of helping he called egotistic helping in which the person who if offering to help has motivation behind that offer, they in turn want some type of payment for the helping services they will provide or have already provided. This payment may not come in monetary form but rather other types of requests. For example maybe you need to help your buddy move from one place to another. Maybe you also will be moving someday and in turn for helping him you expect him to help you when the time comes. The helper's goal may simply be to gain social acceptance with the helping actions they have provided (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Another type of helping that Comte had presented was altruistic helping in which the helper has no interior motivation for helping, meaning they want nothing in return for the service they are going to provide. The motivation behind these two different types of helping actions is caused by empathy. Empathy is when you mentally and physically feel what another person is experiencing (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014).
When you understand and feel what another person is going through it makes your motivation automatic with no time to think about what you would want in return for the help you are providing. Could there really be help in this world that does not have hidden motivation? A person may have a hidden agenda or goal that they are need to reach and helping certain people along the way my improve what you are trying to reach but would this type motivation be considered a "bad" thing and does altruism really exist at all. In this paper we will review the motivation behind the helping factor and whether or not empathy drives altruism. We will also discovery research completed with two-year old subjects who display true altruism. This alone may prove that humans are altruistic through nature alone.
When we discuss what may be the driving factor in helping one another there are a few different philosophies about human altruism which includes; nature, nurture, generosity, and empathy. Nature especially is something to be talked about because we are born from nature and live in nature. Evolution is said to be a part of our selfless behaviors, it is a special part about what makes us human (Wilson, 2011). Our ability to discuss and work with other people and animals gives us a higher advantage in our species surviving in this world. During human evolution our genes may have been shaped by our altruistic actions over thousands of years. The "social groups" who were able to communicate and provide pro-social behaviors than less prosocial groups may have been the ones who survived and evolved though the centuries (Wilson, 2011). Less prosocial groups of people would have been weaved out because more prosocial groups worked together to survive. Natural selection does not allow individuals alone to survive but rather a "group" of individuals and their overall levels of functioning. Through human evolutions we have adapted to become prosocial animals. Prosocial animals help each other and "look out" for the group they are associated with (Wilson, 2011).
Our physical selves are nothing our without our mental selves. Research has shown that humans will wither and die without the connections and interactions of other humans even if our physical selves are well taken care of. Humans need the touch, love and care of other humans. It is that simple (Castano, 2013). Research has shown us that the area in the brain that is ignited when we our self feel pain is the same area of the brain when we know someone else is going through the same type of pain. Empathy through nature helps us become altruistic beings. Humans are connected to other humans through compassion. Compassion could have a strong drive behind people who display altruistic helping. Felix Warneken has completed remarkable research on young children and chimpanzees in regards to our altruistic nature in helping behaviors (Castano, 2013). For example, if an adult drops an item on the floor, children old enough to walk would pick the item up the adult. This is good evidence that we are born to relate to others and "know" instinctively when another human needs help. Human beings have a unique power to them called consciousness, we have the ability to think feel and react as well as think feel and react to other people. Consciousness could be calculated into the equation of where we get our altruistic feelings from (Castano, 2013). According to Castano, altruism exists in our human nature and how we use our helping behavior is up to the individual themselves (Castano, 2013).
A unique way in deciphering if one is prone to altruistic helping would be how the automatically react in certain situations. For humans to be truly altruistically motivated they must not display any anti-altruistic feelings or behaviors (Beardman, 2012). A person might be considered anti-altruistic if they allow themselves to contemplate the situation and allow considerations on whether or not they are going to take a helping hand in the situation at hand. For example, if a person is anti-altruistic they will not engage helping in a situation were they may break a nail or ruin a good pair of shoes (Beardman, 2012). A person who is truly altruistic in their soul will not weigh life and limb in the process of helping another person in need. Beardman believed that the bigger issue in helping behaviors is if someone is neither altruistic nor egotistic in their helping behaviors. This person may have no regard for another human being and would only worry about helping themselves or advancing themselves in this lifetime (Beardman, 2012). Mental health professionals have practices of predicting behavior and explaining our actions and behaviors. One could develop accounts and motives for our behaviors and actions in different situations. This methodology could lead us in the advancement to identify altruistic or anti-altruistic patterns in ones lifestyle (Beardman, 2012). It could also advance our understanding in what creates those altruistic or anti-altruistic actions and pave the way forward to new understanding in how we came become more of a helpful human being for others and our society.
Eva Fogelman had completed research on different families that had helped Jews during the time period of World War II. She found that many of the families had similar common denominators. For example, the “helpers” usually came from a loving and nurturing home and the caregivers of that home displayed altruistic characteristics (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). The role model for those particular families also displayed characteristics in the fact that they accept people who are different; they may feel that we are all equal in this world of diversity. Research completed with 231 Gentiles who saved Jews from dire punishments has a higher ethical values and greater empathy along with higher understandings of equity(Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). A scale has been created to try and measure whether or not a person displays having altruistic behaviors. This scale is called the Self Report Altruism Scale. Participants are asked a series of questions that include your helping behaviors over the past year such as filling out a donor ID card, volunteering for non-profit organizations or charities, giving money or items to charity (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014).
Altruism alone is the meaning of selflessness and having a higher regard for the overall "good" of the group as a whole. If humans need the care of other humans to be able to survive and flourish would it not make since that we are altruistic by nature not culture. Nature says go and culture says stop (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). What if some cultures are thwarting us to go against our nature and focus on the bigger issue of our own self, you take care of the self first. The action of helping another person, place, or thing is within our nature. These positive acts whether that are though altruistic helping or egoistic helping should be embraced with love and care. It feels good to have the helping hand in different situations. It feels good to have people believe in your own self and be "liked" or "loved" by your culture or society. How else are we to prove as humans that we are "good" people and would like to be accepted and belonged by your society or culture? Altruistic helping exists among all human beings because it is written in our human nature. Culture is the main factor in shaping how we use our helping behavior and if we use it to our own benefits or not.
References:
Baumeister, R. & Bushman, B., (2014) Social psychology and human nature. (3rd ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Wilson, D. (2011). EVOLUTION OF SELFLESS BEHAVIOUR. New Scientist, 211(2824), i- viii.
Castano, E. (2013). On Social Connection, Helping, and Altruism. Social Research, 80(2), 383- 386.
Beardman, S. (2012). Altruism and the Experimental Data on Helping Behavior. Ethical Theory & Moral Practice, 15(4), 547-561. doi:10.1007/s10677-011-9309-4
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