Argumentative Analysis: Is It Really Doing The Normal Thing?

When a child falls over in the middle of the street, do you help him? The normal response to this question on this question is “yes” and without empirical data, I think I can claim that far over 90% of the people will agree. It is the normal thing to do, regardless of external or internal motives or any other reasons of benefit for the individual. The question is, why? Clearly, the child is in need of help and you are able to provide it, regardless of circumstance. When taking a scientific approach however, the common sense explanation of “doing the normal thing” falls apart. Expected Utility Theory (EUT), also known as Standard Economic Theory (SET), explains this behavior as irrational for several reasons. For instance, people are supposed to always maximize pleasure, whereas helping someone shows no immediate “payoff” for the passerby. The same goes for the argument that humans will always optimize the reward to be gained by their actions, as they are limited in resources. When you consider for instance time a resource, it is
Its effects on social interaction were only discovered in the 70´s of the last century, after which research started to accumulate. This particle in the human body can be considered as the last brick to the wall of my story. As De Dreu very accurately described in his 2013 book, Oxytocin has two primary effects that give proof of my story. On the one hand it enhances a sensation of trust in the other person. Trust is best characterized as the unconscious expectation of reciprocity of the other party. Thus, the hormone that underlies social interaction gives rise to the expectation of benefits for the self. Further, the effects of Oxytocin give rise to feelings of parochial cooperation. The parochial group that is considered one’s “own” is benefited over individuals from outside. De Dreu most clearly put it