Synonyms
Definition
Altruism refers to any helping behavior whose intended goal is to improve another’s welfare, typically at some cost to the helper. Altruism norms are defined as the typical patterns of behavior seen surrounding these selfless acts. This chapter will summarize prototypical norms of altruism that are commonly seen in families and societies.
Introduction
Altruism norms have evolved and changed throughout the course of human history and can include things such as self-sacrifice, philanthropy, or just doing a good deed. It has been suggested that altruism is influenced in part by genetic factors but more so by the types of societies to which individuals are exposed (Bell et al. 2009). Altruism can be seen as an evolved mechanism that is molded to fit within the norms of different cultures, yet it operates automatically when loved ones, family members, or even strangers require help.
Kin Selection and Pro-family Norms
Engaging...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bell, A. V., Richerson, P. J., & McElreath, R. (2009). Culture rather than genes provides greater scope for the evolution of large-scale human prosociality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(42), 17671–17674.
Borgida, E., Conner, C., & Manteufel, L. (1992). Understanding living kidney donation: A behavioral decision-making perspective. In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), The Claremont symposium on applied psychology. Helping and being helped: Naturalistic studies (pp. 183–211). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Burnstein, E., Crandall, C., & Kitayama, S. (1994). Some neo-Darwinian decision rules for altruism: Weighing cues for inclusive fitness as a function of the biological importance of the decision. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(5), 773–789.
Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. (1973). “From Jerusalem to Jericho”: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(1), 100–108.
Farrelly, D., Lazarus, J., & Roberts, G. (2007). Altruists attract. Evolutionary Psychology, 5(2), 313–329.
Hardy, C. L., & Van Vugt, M. (2006). Nice guys finish first: The competitive altruism hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(10), 1402–1413.
Rand, D. G., Brescoll, V. L., Everett, J. A., Capraro, V., & Barcelo, H. (2016). Social heuristics and social roles: Intuition favors altruism for women but not for men. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(4), 389.
Tisak, M. S., & Tisak, J. (1996). My sibling’s but not my friend’s keeper: Reasoning about responses to aggressive acts. Journal of Early Adolescence, 16(3), 324–339.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46, 35–57.
Whatley, M. A., Webster, J. M., Smith, R. H., & Rhodes, A. (1999). The effect of a favor on public and private compliance: How internalized is the norm of reciprocity? Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21(3), 251–259.
Jordan, J. J., Hoffman, M., Bloom, P., & Rand, D. G. (2016). Thirdparty punishment as a costly signal of trustworthiness. Nature, 530(7591), 473.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bermond, A. (2019). Altruism Norms. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3061-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3061-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences