 |
|
Self-sacrifice among strangers has more to do with nurture than nature
October 13, 2009Culture is more important than genes to altruistic behavior in large-scale societies
Socially learned behavior and belief are much better candidates than genetics to explain the self-sacrificing behavior we see among strangers in societies, from soldiers to blood donors to those who contribute to food banks. This is the conclusion of a study by Adrian V. Bell and colleagues from the University of California Davis in the Oct. 12 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Altruism has long been a subject of interest to evolutionary social scientists. Altruism presents them with a difficult line to argue: behaviors that help unrelated people while being costly to the individual and creating a risk for genetic descendants could not likely be favored by evolution: at least by common evolutionary arguments.
The researchers used a mathematical equation, called the Price equation, that describes the conditions for altruism to evolve. This equation motivated the researchers to compare the genetic and the cultural differentiation between neighboring social groups. Using previously calculated estimates of genetic differences, they used the World Values Survey (whose questions are likely to be heavily influenced by culture in a large number of countries) as a source of data to compute the cultural differentiation between the same neighboring groups. When compared they found that the role of culture had a much greater scope for explaining our pro-social behavior than genetics.
In applying their results to ancestral populations, the World Values Survey was less useful. But ancient cultural practices, such as exclusion from the marriage market, denial of the fruits of cooperative activities, banishment and execution happen now as they did then. These activities would have exerted strong selection against genes tending toward antisocial behavior, and presumably in favor of genes that predisposed individuals toward being pro-social rather than anti-social. This would result in the gene-culture coevolution of human prosocial propensities.
Bell is currently continuing his research in Tonga, where he is planning through ethnography to estimate statistically what social learning behaviors people have in general that may explain the distribution of cultural beliefs across the Tongan Islands. He is developing a survey instrument that will help capture people's cultural beliefs and measure the effect of migration on the similarities and differences between populations.
National Science Foundation
The researchers used a mathematical equation, called the Price equation, that describes the conditions for altruism to evolve. This equation motivated the researchers to compare the genetic and the cultural differentiation between neighboring social groups. Using previously calculated estimates of genetic differences, they used the World Values Survey (whose questions are likely to be heavily influenced by culture in a large number of countries) as a source of data to compute the cultural differentiation between the same neighboring groups. When compared they found that the role of culture had a much greater scope for explaining our pro-social behavior than genetics.
In applying their results to ancestral populations, the World Values Survey was less useful. But ancient cultural practices, such as exclusion from the marriage market, denial of the fruits of cooperative activities, banishment and execution happen now as they did then. These activities would have exerted strong selection against genes tending toward antisocial behavior, and presumably in favor of genes that predisposed individuals toward being pro-social rather than anti-social. This would result in the gene-culture coevolution of human prosocial propensities.
Bell is currently continuing his research in Tonga, where he is planning through ethnography to estimate statistically what social learning behaviors people have in general that may explain the distribution of cultural beliefs across the Tongan Islands. He is developing a survey instrument that will help capture people's cultural beliefs and measure the effect of migration on the similarities and differences between populations.
National Science Foundation
Altruism Current Events and Altruism News RSSCan a plant be altruistic?
The concept of altruism has long been debated in philosophical circles, and more recently, evolutionary biologists have joined the debate.
Chimpanzees help each other on request but not voluntarily
The evolution of altruism has long puzzled researchers and has mainly been explained previously from ultimate perspectives-I will help you now because I expect there to be some long-term benefit to me.
Evidence that Priming Affiliation Increases Helping Behavior in Infants As Young As 18 Months
Most of us are willing to help a neighbor in need, but there's no question that we pay a price for our altruism. Not necessarily in money, but in valuable time and energy, and with no promise of payback. So, why do we engage in prosocial behavior in the first place?
Pitt team first to profile genes in acutely ill idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients
The first findings from a one-of-a-kind, patient-driven effort to provide lung tissue for research might help doctors predict when patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are becoming dangerously ill and also could point the way to interventions that could sustain them until life-saving transplants can be performed.
Why dishing does you good: U-M study
Why does dishing with a girlfriend do wonders for a woman's mood?
The neurobiology of musicality related to the intrinsic attachment behavior?
In the study of University of Helsinki and Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, the neurobiological basis of music in human evolution and communication was evaluated using candidate genes associated in the earlier studies with social bonding and cognitive functions.
The importance of being helpful -- Cooperative cichlids boost their own reproductive success
Subordinate individuals living within a group of vertebrates sometimes assist a more dominant pair by helping to raise the dominant pair's offspring and this has been shown to occur among subordinate female cichlids.
Study Suggests Collective Religious Rituals, Not Religious Devotion, Spur Support for Suicide Attacks
In a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologists Jeremy Ginges and Ian Hansen from the New School for Social Research along with psychologist Ara Norenzayan from the University of British Columbia conducted a series of experiments investigating the relationship between religion and support for acts of parochial altruism, including suicide attacks.
In sickness and health: Caring for ailing spouse may prolong your life
Older people who spent at least 14 hours a week taking care of a disabled spouse lived longer than others. That is the unexpected finding of a University of Michigan study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Being altruistic may make you attractive
Displays of altruism or selflessness towards others can be sexually attractive in a mate. This is one of the findings of a study carried out by biologists and a psychologist at The University of Nottingham.
More Altruism Current Events and Altruism News Articles
 |
The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness by Lee Alan Dugatkin (Author) In a world supposedly governed by ruthless survival of the fittest, why do we see acts of goodness in both animals and humans? This problem plagued Charles Darwin in the 1850s as he developed his theory of evolution through natural selection. Indeed, Darwin worried that the goodness he observed in nature could be the Achilles heel of his theory. Ever since then, scientists and other thinkers have engaged in a fierce debate about the origins of goodness that has dragged politics, philosophy, and religion into what remains a major question for evolutionary biology. The Altruism Equation traces the history of this debate from Darwin to the present through an extraordinary cast of characters-from the Russian prince Petr Kropotkin, who wanted to base society on altruism, to the... |
 |
The Heart of Altruism by Kristen Renwick Monroe (Author) Is all human behavior based on self-interest? Many social and biological theories would argue so, but such a perspective does not explain the many truly heroic acts committed by people willing to risk their lives to help others. In The Heart of Altruism, Kristen Renwick Monroe boldly lays the groundwork for a social theory receptive to altruism by examining the experiences described by altruists themselves: from Otto, a German businessman who rescued over a hundred Jews in Nazi Germany, to Lucille, a newspaper poetry editor, who, armed with her cane, saved a young girl who was being raped. Monroe's honest and moving interviews with these little-known heroes enable her to explore the causes of altruism and the differences between altruists and other people. By delineating an overarching... |
 |
The Possibility of Altruism by Thomas Nagel (Author) |
 |
Altruism (Concepts in the Social Sciences) by Niall Scott (Author), Jonathan Seglow (Author) "A discussion of altruism, drawing on different disiplinary perspectives, could hardly be more timely, and this book is a thoughtful and insightful contribution to the debate." Ruth Chadwick - Distinguished Research Professor and Director, Cardiff University What motivates us to be altruistic? How did an altruistic trait evolve in humans, given that evolutionary theory assumes we are self-interested? What sorts of people are altruistic and in what circumstances? Is the welfare state a channel for altruism or does it crowd out people’s altruistic motivations? This accessible book is the first introduction to the idea of altruism. It explores how we have come to be altruistic, and considers why it is important to remain altruistic, not just for the sake of... |
 |
Kindness In A Cruel World: The Evolution Of Altruism by Nigel Barber (Author) "Nigel Barber's KINDNESS IN A CRUEL WORLD provides a well-written, accessible, and much-welcomed discussion of moral beliefs and moral behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The insightful discussion of kindness and cruelty will stimulate debate, and provide an excellent introduction to these issues for the nonspecialist and an excellent review for students of evolutionary thinking. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in human morality." DAVID C. GEARY, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia "Although altruistic and self-sacrificial behavior have been considered puzzling by psychologists and biologists looking for individual benefit in the acts, such behavior is perfectly consistent with current theories of... |
 |
When Altruism Isn't Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors by Sally Satel (Author) Today, more than 78,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant. What can be done to solve the kidney crisis? Compensate organ donors for their remarkable gifts. This book explores the key ethical, theoretical, and practical concerns of a government-regulated donor compensation system. It is the first to describe how such a system could be designed to be ethically permissible, economically justifiable, and pragmatically achievable. |
 |
Altruism & Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy & Religion in Dialogue by Stephen Garrard Post (Author), Lynn G. Underwood (Author), Jeffrey Schloss (Author), William B. Hurlbut (Author) The concept of altruism, or disinterested concern for another's welfare, has been discussed by everyone from theologians to psychologists to biologists. In this book, evolutionary, neurological, developmental, psychological, social, cultural, and religious aspects of altruistic behavior are examined. It is a collaborative examination of one of humanity's essential and defining characteristics by renowned researchers from various disciplines. Their integrative dialogue illustrates that altruistic behavior is a significant mode of expression that can be studied by various scholarly methods and understood from a variety of perspectives in both the humanities and the sciences. Altruism and Altruistic Love establishes a framework for scholarship on altruism by presenting definitions, a... |
 |
La Habanera Starring: Zarah Leander, Ferdinand Marian, Karl Martell, Julia Serda, Boris Alekin Directed By: Douglas Sirk Also With: Franz Weihmayr (Cinematographer), Axel von Werner (Editor), Bruno Duday (Producer), Gerhard Menzel (Writer) |
 |
Selfishness, Altruism, and Rationality by Howard Margolis (Author) Why do we volunteer time? Why do we contribute money? Why, even, do we vote, if the effect of a single vote is negligible? Rationality-based microeconomic models are hard-pressed to explain such social behavior, but Howard Margolis proposes a solution. He suggests that within each person there are two selves, one selfish and the other group-oriented, and that the individual follows a Darwinian rule for allocating resources between those two selves. "Howard Margolis's intriguing ideas . . . provide an alternative to the crude models of rational choice that have dominated economics and political science for too long."—Times Literary Supplement |
|
Altruism in Nature (VHS) by Harun Yahya |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |