Altruism is defined as the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper. The evolutionary view of altruism involves the ideas of kin selection and, the norm of reciprocity. Kin selection suggests that we are more likely to help those related to us, and the norm reciprocity proposes that we will help others if we expect them to return the help in the future. I believe these two concepts show a great unconscious motivator for altruism. The next more conscious part of altruism is the how much will it cost and reward the person who will help as discussed by the social exchange theory. And the final influence is the empathy-altruism hypothesis, which states that when we feel empathy for a person, we will help a person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain. I believe these three factors to some degree or another play off each other to influence people when it comes to making an altruistic choice to help someone.
Some of the other factors are an altruistic personality, influences from culture, gender roles, and religion. An altruistic personality is the qualities that cause an individual to help others, but the weight of a situation can diminish the effect of a personality type. When it comes to gender differences, males are raised to be altruistic in situations that are intense and call for heroic actions. Females are raised to be altruistic in a compassionate manner and long-term situations, like caring for elderly relatives. Cultural influences show that the interdependent view shows that people are more likely to help those they consider part of the in-group and less likely to help those in the out-group. Religion has an influence on altruism in that people are more likely to help in situations where others are watching, and less likely to help in private situations. These other factors show me that altruism is not very simple and is dependent on so many different variables.
However, I believe that the most important factor that influences us in making altruistic choices is our mood combined with all the other factors. Research has shown that when a person is in positive happy mood, they are more inclined to help another person, and when a person is feeling guilty and sad they are also more inclined to help as it can make them feel better.
The most recent and probably biggest altruistic moment in my life came from good friend three months ago. My horse has been diagnose with severe arthritis in his feet and I have not been able to ride since his diagnosis almost a year ago. Three months ago my friend had a horse that he had let me ride a few times because I was starting to get very depressed. After one of our rides he told me he would give the horse I was on, and take my horse in trade just so I could have a horse to ride. I speechless at first, and then just flooded with gratitude over his offer. I did have to deny his offer for a couple different reasons, but one was because my friend would have lost a four thousand dollar income from the sale of this horse, but his reward would have been to see me happy. As I look back now I realize how altruistic he was being, even though I did not recognize it at the time. This particular act helped to bring me out a depression I was falling into, and helped me remember that people are still altruistic.
This altruistic act has stuck with me and put me in a better mindset to help others. The first instance where I was able to be altruistic was at a horse show I worked the second week of October. I had been asked by a trainer who was coming in from Lafayette to let her know where her stalls were as she was not coming into till after nine o’clock at night. After she told me that I let her know where her stalls where and I went and bedded down the stalls with the shavings so that she could immediately unload the horses and help her not be there so late. The cost to me was time and some manual labor, which was worth the reward in knowing I made her night easier. The next instance was at a horse show last week. There was a trainer coming in from Choudron, Louisiana who had never been to our facility in Folsom. She called me as the secretary a few minutes before I was going to leave around six pm, her GPS had sent her to a place called Golden Oaks and she was lost. Without any thought I grabbed my keys and told her I would come find her, and for her to just listen for a very loud truck. Her GPS had sent her half a mile past the road she was supposed to turn on and I had her just follow me back to the show grounds and I even led her right to her stalls. I feel this was altruistic in that I was helping a total stranger with the cost to me being I stayed even later when I had to be back early in the morning. The rewards of knowing she found her way and was relieved to be there was all I needed.
The factors that I have experienced when I have not helped someone, have involved a person’s attitude. I have learned over the years that there are certain people who generally have a grumpy, unappreciative disposition, and when I have helped them it made my own attitude turn sour because they would criticize me for helping them. In this situation, I have learned to just not help them, because the cost to me is too high when the reward is turning my attitude into one of regret. I have also noticed I am less likely to help people when I am in the city, because I turn a blind eye as I am often uncomfortable in the city, which goes back to the urban overload hypothesis.
Social psychologists play a big role in altruism through their study of what and why people choose certain moments to be altruistic. Because social psychologists study why people are altruistic or not it has given the public more information as to how to change their behavior especially when dealing with the bystander effect. By having an awareness that people are less likely to react or help when in large groups, it can mean that the individuals who are aware of this phenomenon are the ones who can make a big difference in these situations.