Psy 490 Altruism And Psychology Paper

Altruism and Psychology
Adam Barker
PSY 490 Capstone Course in Psychology
Dennis Plunkett, MC, CC
July 29, 2013

Altruism and Psychology
The random act of kindness that I completed this week was buying an old man a coffee in front of me at Starbucks. He ordered a Grande Pike with room. I heard the order and said “I’ll get that miss” and without even hesitating handed over my card to pay for the drink. The older man look at me with a cracked smile and confused kind of look before muttering the words “you didn’t have to do that young man, but thank you” I replied with a smile on my face “no problem Sir”.
Now, let’s look at a definition of altruism: Altruism involves the unselfish concern for other people. It involves doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons. (psychology.about.com)
When reading the above statement I think that it is important to point out the key words “unselfish, not because you feel obligated to out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons”.
By reading this it is my interpretation that in order to be altruistic you have to do something and NOT gain anything by doing it. What do you think?
Now let’s breakdown the various reasons I could have done this:
1. To ensure that I did my random act of kindness as assigned by the school
2. To get a good feeling and a sense of pleasure, knowing that I helped someone
3. To make sure that I got points on my card
4. To speed up the process so that I didn’t have to wait in line any
longer
5. So that the lady behind the counter thought that I was a decent guy
All of the above reasons are completely valid, although if you take ANY of the reasons into consideration, would the random act of kindness still be considered altruistic? In fact is there such a thing as altruism? I understand that it seems quite pessimistic, but when you think about it there is some logic behind it. For example: If you were to help an old lady across the road, you would find pleasure in knowing she was safe from any potential hazards, therefore, you gained something. Psychologists do consider altruism to exist but researching the topic indicates that there is a few explanations below as to how an individual could gain something through an altruistic act. * Biological Reasons: Kin selection - We may be more altruistic towards those we are related to because it increases the odds that our blood relations will survives and transmit their genes to future generations. * Neurological Reasons: Altruism activates reward centers in the brain. Neurobiologists have found that when engaged in an altruistic act, the pleasure centers of the brain become active. * Cognitive Reasons: While the definition of altruism involves doing for others without reward, there may still be cognitive incentives that are not obvious. For example, we might help others to relieve out own distress or because being kind to others upholds our view of ourselves as kind, empathetic people. (psychology.about.com)
While weighing the above I do have to wonder if true altruism exists. Although, I do believe altruistic traits can be more prevalent in others and in the things we do. As for my random act of kindness and the relation to altruism, I can see how there is a strong argument to suggest that it was not, although what if none of the 5 reasons I mentioned fell into any of my thought process’s while completing the act?

REFERENCES
Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Altruism." www.psychology.About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2013