WEBVTT - Do Truly Unselfish Acts Really Exist? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.560 Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.840 brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbam. Here is there such a thing 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.640 as a truly unselfish altruistic act? One in which someone 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.000 benefits while the person performing the act receives nothing in return. 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.159 You could debate the philosophy of harm and good, of 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.720 cause and effect, of intent and result, and philosophers have 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.320 for pretty much ever. But looking at it from another angle, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.159 why would we humans possess a sense of selflessness or 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.760 altruism in the first place? Is there a biological basis 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.479 for your good deeds? Whenever researchers use magnetic residence imaging 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.120 or mri I to observe test subjects as they perform 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.800 a particular task, it seems that some new secret of 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.800 our brains is unlocked, and altruism is no exception. One 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.640 two six study focused on anonymous charitable donations, which are 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:56.880 pretty specific altruistic acts. The giver receives no tangible reward. 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.360 They give away hard earned money to benefit a total ranger, 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.800 and they can't expect any thinks because the donation is anonymous. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:08.920 It's altruism, and perhaps it's purest. But researchers found that 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.039 the subjects who contributed to charities did receive some benefit 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.880 the warm fuzzies. In the study, the volunteers had a choice. 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.880 They could keep money or donate it to charities of 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.080 differing ideologies. The researchers found that giving money activated the 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.560 same reward center in the brain that was activated when 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:30.120 the participants received money. Another study in two thousand seven 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.839 also used m ri I to study the phenomenon of altruism. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.760 These researchers, however, concluded that people aren't altruistic because they 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.080 receive a good feeling when they perform a selfless act, 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.959 but because they perceived that others are likely to return 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.800 the favor. The researchers found that the area of the 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.960 brain that's activated when people analyze social bonds indicates that 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.680 before we do something nice for someone else, we might 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.600 first examine whether or not that person would reciprocate if 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:56.760 the shoe were on the other foot. If we think 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.120 someone else would act altruistically toward us, the study suggests 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.600 we would be more likely to act altruistically toward that person. 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.959 According to evolutionary theory, however, behaviors develop when they help 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.720 living things to survive. Animals feel discomfort when they're hungry, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.320 signaling its time to eat. A plant might shed its 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.880 leaves in the fall to create a protective mulch barrier 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.800 to keep its roots warm during the winter. Flora and 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.360 fauna survive by looking out for themselves. By this logic, 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.480 altruism shouldn't even exist, because behaviors that make it through 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.480 the process of natural selection need to help that creature, 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.640 or at least its genetic material, survive. So the idea 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.080 that we have a natural imperative to help others at 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.000 our own detriment flies in the face of evolutionary theory. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.840 Altruism must serve some unseen purpose that favors our survival. 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.519 Take the example of apparent risking their life to save 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.079 their childs or helping your sibling out with a loan 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:53.959 when they're in a crunch. These both support the belief 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.400 that altruism is kinship based, meaning our blood relatives are 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.960 generally the beneficiaries of our altruism, which lends itself to 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.360 an extension that altruism exists to protect the genetic line. 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.919 Author Richard Dawkins, in his book The Selfish Gene, considers 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.160 humans as mere vehicles for a genetic line Since we 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.640 pass on half of our genes. When we protect our 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.320 offspring or blood relatives at the risk of our own lives, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.519 our altruistic behavior is merely our genes acting to protect 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.680 their lineage. There are other interpretations of altruism within the sciences. However, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.960 one explanation posits that altruism lies not within some genetic urge, 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:35.080 but outside of ourselves. French sociologist Emil dirk Hem stripped 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.960 any application of terms like good to describe acts of 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:42.160 altruism in his theories concerning morality. To dirk Hm, altruism 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:45.760 existed outside of the individual. It was an external social force, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.080 prescribed and demanded not for the benefit of any individual, 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.640 but for the benefit of society, simply to keep society intact. 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.160 Dirk Hem defined altruism as the violent and voluntary act 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.840 of self destruction for no personal benefit, and the opposite 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:05.600 of rational self interest. To the sociologist, behaviors like altruism 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.760 exist because the needs of the society and the needs 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.280 of the individual are at odds. Since people perceive the 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.280 collective group to be more important than the individual, self 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:18.080 sacrificing behavioral concepts like altruism are required to keep the 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:22.359 individual in line and subservient to the greater good. Although 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.760 derk Hem's critics say he jumps to conclusions in his 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:29.080 explanation for altruism and morality in general, other anthropologists side 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.920 with his interpretation. Some consider it an impossibility for society 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:37.159 to have developed without the cooperation that altruism fosters. The 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.800 implication that altruism is an external social mechanism is sometimes 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.599 called social subjectivism, which is more widely defined as the 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.760 belief that groups of people, not individuals, collectively create our 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:53.680 reality and perhaps especially concepts of truth and morality. It 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.920 means that we as a group have managed to create 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:00.280 an intangible ideal like altruism and created its high value 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.880 as well. People see those who make personal sacrifices for 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.120 the common good or for the good of another person 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.160 as noble and admirable. If Derkham and others who share 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.040 like mind about altruism are correct, then we have bought 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.240 into altruism so deeply that our brains have evolved to 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.479 deliver pleasure to us when we perform selfless acts. Two 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.200 individualists or egoists or objectivists. On the other hand, the 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.600 concept of altruism as a social fabrication is a dangerous thing, 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.920 something that defies true human nature. The idea here is 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.960 that every person is responsible for their own life and happiness, 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.880 and that we must let every other person be equally 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.960 self responsible. This belief follows that altruistic behavior allows people 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.440 to be exploited by totalitarian governments trying to control people's 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.920 lives write down to people's moral right to exist. Altruism, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.680 in this view, is an aspect of subservience with a 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:58.640 dubious benefit of having been duped into feeling good about it. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:00.640 It seems we've gone a bit far our field to 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.560 answer such a seemingly simple question. Is there such a 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.799 thing as a truly unselfish act? If mri I evidence 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.520 is accurate, then we have the reward system to contend with. 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.359 If evolutionists are correct, then we perform altruistic acts in 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.960 order to ensure the survival of our genes. And if 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.880 subjectivists or objectivists are right, then we're altruistic merely because 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.520 we conform to social standards. So far, the existence for 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:28.080 a truly unselfish act isn't looking good, But there are 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.120 two silver linings to this admittedly sort of dark cloud. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.320 Although we are rewarded one way or another by performing 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.240 an altruistic act, it still remains up to the individual 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.040 whether or not to perform one and if helping one 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.760 another feels good, does that make it any less worthwhile. 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.280 Today's episode was written by Josh Clark and produced by 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.760 Tyler Clang. To hear more from Josh, check out his 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.600 podcast The End of the World with Josh Clark. Brain 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.840 Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.000 For more on this and lots of other sticky top 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.760 visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com and 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.159 for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.919 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:08.719 your favorite shows.