Altruism

To be aware of animal responses to external stimuli

 Questions to be Addressed
• What is Altruism?
• What is Reciprocal Altruism?
• What is Indirect Altruism?
• What motivates people to help others?
• What kind of moral reasoning is involved in
altruism?
 Altruism
• Altruism – means “living for others”
• Altruism refers to an individual acting in a way that will
decrease its own survival chances, but improve the survival
chances of another individual.

• The study of social grouping in animals has revealed that

altruism is „natural‟ just as selfishness.

• If altruism have evolved in animals, then they must have some

adaptive benefits and such behaviour can be expected to be
evolve.
 Examples
• Vampire bats will feed blood that
they have collected from their prey
to a hungry young ones
(Wilkinson, 1990).
• Ground squirrels will warn others
in the presence of a predator, even
though making such a call may
draw the attention of the predator
to itself (Sherman, 1977).
• In many species of social insects,
workers do not reproduce entirely
(they are sterile) in order raise
their sisters (Wilson, 1971).
 Theories of Altruism
• 1. Kin Selection (Proposed by Hamilton, 1964).
• By helping relatives to reproduce (even at the cost to your
own reproductive success) then your shared genes can spread,
increases „Inclusive Fitness‟ of close relative
• Using mathematical modelling, Hamilton described that an
altruistic gene can spread through the population and the cost
to the individual is offset by the reproductive benefit gained
by the receiver.
• „Hamilton‟s Rule‟ = r B>c
• where r=coefficient of relatedness, B = benefit to the recipient,
c = cost to the giver.
 How Much Pain Will You Suffer For
Your Kin?
• In an interesting experiment Fieldman asked participants to
maintain a painful position. The longer they held the position
the more money they would earn.
• In different conditions participants could earn money for
individuals differing in relatedness:
– Themselves
– Parent or sibling
– Grandparent
– Cousin
– Unrelated friend
• The duration of maintaining the painful position varied as a
direct proportion of relatedness, with more pain being
sustained for closer relatives.
 Kin Selection in Action
• Ground squirrels do not give an alarm call every time
a predator approaches. They only do so when there is
a large proportion of their relatives within group.
(Sherman, 1977).
• Vampire bats are much more likely to share their
food with relatives than with non-relatives
(Wilkinson, 1990).
• This theory explained the most puzzling phenomena -
that of the sterile insects - genetically they are more
related to their sisters than to their mothers or
daughters (Trivers & Hare, 1976).
 Recognizing Kin
• It is important to recognise kin, as the costs involved
in mistaking another individuals offspring for one‟s
own are high and the benefits will be few.
• Recognizing offspring should evolve more often in
colonial species, as there is a high risk of
misdirecting parental care.
• Bank swallows (colonial) do not accept strange
chicks whereas rough-winged swallows (solitary) do.
• Black headed gulls (colonial ground-nesting)
recognise offspring and refuse strange chicks, but
Kittiwakes do not recognise offspring and accept
substitute offspring.
 Kin Recognition in Gulls

Data from Alcock, 1993

 Kin Selection in Humans
• Studies amongst diverse human populations consistently
support the existence of kin selection, some examples (cited in
Barrett et al., 2002) are as follows:
• Food sharing is more common amongst close relatives.
• Political alliances between kin are more stable than those
formed between unrelated individuals.
• The passing on of wealth to lineal descendants (excluding
spouses) is far more common than giving to less closely
related or unrelated individuals.
• Close relatives are mostly sought out in times of need and
such help is less likely to be reciprocal.
• Relatives typically receive more expensive gifts.
 Facial Similarity and Trust?
• DeBruine (2002) argued that animals should be sensitive to
cues of genetic relatedness when making altruistic decisions.
• In humans such decisions may be based around facial
appearance.
• Participants played a computerised game of trust in which
they had to decide whether or not to share money with an
individual.
• They were shown faces of their 'opponents' which were either
facially different to themselves, or whose faces had been
morphed to resemble their own.
 Arguments /Discussion
Do you believe that altruistic behavior is
hereditary? Why or why not?

Do humans care about other humans?

• Some believe that altruism is human nature, while
others disagree.
• Some believe that altruism is hereditary, while
others disagree.
• Some believe that even animals purposely show
altruism in their behaviors.
• Many believe that all human beings are 100% self-
interested.
• In other words, even if someone helps another,
they are doing it for their own interest and
essentially for the wrong reasons.
All of the below religions revolve around altruism:
• Islam
• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Sikhism and many more…
Discussion

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO HELP OTHERS?

▫ Egoistic – Individuals help others hoping to reduce their own
personal stress (feelings of guilt, worry, shame, fear, etc.)

▫ Altruistic – people help others because they feel sympathy

toward them and their situation (softheartedness )
What stops us from helping
others?
How do we react to receiving
help?
How can we increase helping
behavior?
The Problem

• Why we don’t help?

– Fear of danger
– Disruption of own life
– Worried about looking foolish?
 Why we help?
• Biologically-Oriented
– Genetics
– Social exchange
– Social norms
• Psychologically-Oriented
– sympathy -Altruism
– Negative State Relief
 Reactions to Receiving Help

• High helper-victim similarity (friend)

– negative affect (feel incompetent)
– lowered self-esteem
– motivated to self-help in the future
• Low helper-victim similarity (non-friend)
– positive affect (feel good, appreciative)
– positive self-image
– less motivated to self-help in the future
 Ways to Increase Helping
• Be willing to be wrong or look foolish
• Assume responsibility
• Gain confidence/competence
 Gender Differences in Helping

• Men help more than women when:

– act is dangerous (heroic) requiring certain skills
– person in need of help is a woman
• Women help more than men when:
– giving to charity
– caring for friends and family
Reciprocal Altruism
 Problems for Kin Selection
• Kin selection does not explain observed behviour of animals,
helping non-relatives for example:
• Unrelated chimpanzees come close together when threatened (de
Waal & Luttrell, 1988).
• Vampire bats will feed non-relatives (Wilkinson, 1990).
• Humans often engage in apparently altruistic acts such as:
– Giving blood
– Donating to charity
– Rescuing unrelated individuals and even animals
– Sacrificing their lives for moral or ethical principles
• How can such behaviours be explained?
 Human Adoption
• The adoption of unrelated children has been cited as evidence
against kin selection as helping to rear unrelated children will
not produce genetic benefits to the „giver‟.

• However, Silk (1990) observed that among Polynesian

cultures. Families who had adopted children that were
unrelated tended to be agricultural families needing extra help.
 Reciprocal Altruism
• Proposed by Trivers (1971).
• Natural Selection create psychological mechanisms designed
to deliver benefits even to non-relatives, provided that such
actions lead to reciprocal beneficial actions in the future.

• This is not limited to the same species e.g mutualism

• E.g, in vampire bats, an individual will share food with a

conspecific (whether related or not) if the other has shared
food with that individual in the past (Wilkinson, 1990).
 Conditions Under Which Reciprocation Flourishes

• Individuals must associate for long enough periods of time to

develop reciprocal interactions.
• The likelihood of one individual performing some social
exchange with another should be predicted on the basis of
their past associations.
• The roles of giver and receiver should reverse at least once.
• The short-term benefits to the recipient are greater than the
costs of the donor.
• Givers should be able to recognise and expel cheaters from the
system.
• Do such conditions apply to human social interactions?
Modelling Human Social Exchanges
• A group of friends agree to divide the restaurant bill equally,
by choosing similar priced meals but an individual can take
advantage by ordering the most expensive meal, as the cost
will be absorbed by the whole group (Glance & Huberman,
1994).
• In a one-off situation in a large social group it pays to cheat,
however in a small group who meet regularly, such defection
will be noticed and punished.
• Reciprocal social exchange has mutual costs/benefits but one
person can always benefit more than another if they cheat - i.e.
receive an act but do not reciprocate.
 Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Described by Hamilton (1981). It is a game in which mutual
co-operation benefits both players, but a „cheat‟ can gain a
higher pay-off.
• It is often described as a hypothetical situation in which two
individuals have committed a crime, and are being held for
questioning in separate cells, they are unable to communicate.
• It is in the best interests of both to say nothing, as the evidence
is such that both may only receive a light sentence.
• However, they are being questioned separately, and the lawyer
offers both freedom if they associate the other in the crime.
 Indirect Reciprocation
• An altruistic act need not to be reciprocated by the person
directly assisted but can be returned indirectly from other
individuals.
• E.g if you advertise yourself as an altruist then individuals will
be more inclined to deal with you in future social exchange
• This may explain blood donation, giving to beggars and
donating to charities.
• It had been claimed that such actions indicate that human
behaviour is immune from evolutionary analysis and
demonstrates a pure form of altruism.
• Alexander (1987) suggested that giving blood is a very good
way of demonstrating your altruism at a modest cost.
Evidence for Indirect Reciprocation
• We would maybe predict that individuals will not donate
blood or give to charity unless their actions are made known –
i.e. by wearing a sticker or badge indicating their actions.

• Students are significantly more likely to give to charity if they

receive a pin or tag that advertises their participation.
 Thought of the Day

• “Scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed”.

Ghiselin (1974).

• Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of

creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

Gandhi

Man in the Mirror