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Altruism

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 113 Accesses

Synonyms

Beneficence; Benevolence; Helping; Prosocial behavior

Definition

An action intended to benefit another

Introduction

The scientific study of altruism began in earnest in the 1960s, but the concept of altruism has pervaded human culture – particularly religion – for far longer. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, wrote that beneficence was the most laudable of man’s qualities (Hume 1779). In the Christian Bible, Jesus says that the means to eternal life is to show compassion for others (Luke 10:27, King James Version). He then goes on to describe an example of this compassion, the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man who was attacked is helped by an altruistic stranger. Psychologists have investigated the connection between such religious messages, as well as secular social norms on helping, to understand the causal factors inherent in altruism. Altruism is a very broad field, and the study of altruism has included a wide range of helping behaviors. Over time, the stakes...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stetson University, DeLand, FL, USA

    Laura Crysel

Authors
  1. Laura Crysel
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Correspondence to Laura Crysel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Division of Social Sciences, New College of Florida, 5800 Bay Shore Road, 34243, Sarasota, FL, USA

    Catherine Cottrell

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Crysel, L. (2017). Altruism. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1775-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1775-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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