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altruism
(redirected from Altruistic behavior)

    Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.

altruism

In biology, helping another individual of the same species to reproduce more effectively, as a direct result of which the altruist may leave fewer offspring itself. Female honey bees (workers) behave altruistically by rearing sisters in order to help their mother, the queen bee, reproduce, and forgo any possibility of reproducing themselves.

altruism

Term coined by the French positivist philosopher Auguste Comte, briefly defined as ‘living for others’. The altruistic instinct is a social instinct or impulse, and is evidenced in kindness, veneration, and affection.

It was this instinct or tendency in human beings that Comte wished to raise to a conscious principle, or an ethical ideal, making it the chief aim of human action to seek the welfare of others. Herbert Spencer in his Data of Ethics 1879 sought to show that in the course of social evolution egoism and altruism would be reconciled.

Altruism is not the exclusive possession of humanity, but is seen among some other animals, for example wolves and some insects.



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For one of the striking conclusions of this sociological study of altruistic behavior among non-Jewish Europeans toward Jews during the Holocaust is that the mildly religious, not the very religious or the adamantly irreligious, were least likely to show it.
A Test of Goodness by Rubenstein, Ernest / Commonweal
Even a neo-Darwinian commentator like Matt Ridley, who argues that the biological selfishness of individual genes can still actually foster cooperative and even altruistic behavior in the right social environment, must concede that to shape our social environment in ways that will elicit congenial behaviors while also suppressing certain genetically-programmed traits of brutality, greed, and rapaciousness, social engineers must deliberately propagate untruth.
The cosmos as memento mori: the ultimate significance of modern ... by Christensen, Bryce / Modern Age
While research suggests that perspective taking does not directly lead to altruistic behavior and that liking is an important precursor to perspective taking, this information can be useful.
Motivating perspective taking through oral performance by Hastings, Sally O. / Academic Exchange Quarterly
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