1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbaumb here with a classic episode from our archives. 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: This one gets into some actual brain stuff. It's about 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: the psychology and sociology of altruism. Why do we do 5 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: nice things for other people even at our own expense? 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,159 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbomb here. Is there such a 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: thing as a truly unselfish altruistic act? One in which 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: someone benefits while the person performing the act receives nothing 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: in return. You could debate the philosophy of harm and good, 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: of cause and effect, of intent and result, and philosophers 11 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: have for pretty much ever. But looking at it from 12 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: another angle, why would we humans possess a sense of 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: selflessness or altruism in the first place? Is there a 14 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: biological basis for your good deeds? Whenever researchers use magnetic 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,279 Speaker 1: resonance imaging or MRI to observe test subjects as they 16 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: perform a particular task, it seems that some new secret 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: of our brains is unlocked, and altruism is no exception. 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: One two thousand and six study focused on anonymous charitable donations, 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: which are pretty specific altruistic acts the giver receives no 20 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: tangible reward. They give away hard earned money to benefit 21 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: a total stranger, and they can't expect any thinks because 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: the donation is anonymous. It's altruism at perhaps its purest, 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: But researchers found that the subjects who contributed to charities 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: did receive some benefit the warm fuzzies. In the study, 25 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: the volunteers had a choice. They could keep money or 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: donate it to charities of differing ideologies. The researchers found 27 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: that giving money activated the same reward center in the 28 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: brain that was activated when the participants received money. Another 29 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: study in two thousand and seven also used MRI to 30 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: study the phenomenon of altruism. These researchers, however, concluded that 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: people aren't altruistic because they receive a good feeling when 32 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: they perform a selfless act, but because they perceive that 33 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: others are likely to return the favor. The researchers found 34 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,919 Speaker 1: that the area of the brain that's activated when people 35 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: analyze social bonds indicates that before we do something nice 36 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: for someone else, we might first examine whether or not 37 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: that person would reciprocate if the shoe were on the 38 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: other foot. If we think someone else would act altruistically 39 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: toward us, the study suggests we would be more likely 40 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: to act altruistically toward that person. According to evolutionary theory, however, 41 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: behaviors develop when they help living things to survive. Animals 42 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: feel discomfort when they're hungry, signaling it's time to eat. 43 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: A plant might shed its leaves in the fall to 44 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: create a protective mulch barrier to keep its roots warm 45 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 1: during the winter. Flora and fauna survive by looking out 46 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: for themselves. By this logic, altruisms shouldn't even exist because 47 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: behaviors that make it through the process of natural selection 48 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: need to help that creature, or at least its genetic material, survive. 49 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: So the idea that we have a natural imperative to 50 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: help others at our own detriment fly in the face 51 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: of evolutionary theory. Altruism must serve some unseen purpose that 52 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: favors our survival. Take the example of a parent risking 53 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: their life to save their childs or helping your sibling 54 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: out with a loan when they're in a crunch. These 55 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: both support the belief that altruism is kinship based, meaning 56 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: our blood relatives are generally the beneficiaries of our altruism, 57 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: which lends itself to an extension that altruism exists to 58 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: protect the genetic line. Author Richard Dawkins, in his book 59 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: The Selfish Gene, considers humans as mere vehicles for a 60 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: genetic line. Since we pass on half of our genes. 61 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: When we protect our offspring or blood relatives at the 62 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: risk of our own lives, our altruistic behavior is merely 63 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: our genes acting to protect their lineage. There are other 64 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: interpretations of altruism within the sciences. However, one explanation posits 65 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: that altruism lies not within some genetic urge, but outside 66 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: of ourselves. French sociologist Emildur Kem stripped any application of 67 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: terms like good to describe acts of altruism in his 68 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: theories concerning morality. To dirk Hem, altruism existed outside of 69 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: the individual. It was an external social force prescribed and 70 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: demanded not for the benefit of any individual, but for 71 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: the benefit of society, simply to keep society intact. Dirkhm 72 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: defined altruism as the violent and voluntary act of self 73 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: destruction for no personal benefit, and the opposite of rational 74 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: self interest to the sociologist, behaviors like altruism exist because 75 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: the needs of the society and the needs of the 76 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 1: individual are at odds. Since people perceive the collective group 77 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: to be more important than the individual, self sacrificing behavioral 78 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: concepts like altruism are required to keep the individual in 79 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: line and subservient to the greater good. Although Dirkhm's critics 80 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: say he jumps to conclusions in his explanation for altruism 81 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: and morality in general, other anthropologists side with his interpretation. 82 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: Some consider it an impossibility for society to have developed 83 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: without the cooperation that altruism fosters. The implication that altruism 84 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: is an external so social mechanism is sometimes called social subjectivism, 85 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: which is more widely defined as the belief that groups 86 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: of people, not individuals, collectively create our reality and perhaps 87 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: especially concepts of truth and morality. It means that we 88 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: as a group have managed to create an intangible ideal 89 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: like altruism and created its high value as well. People 90 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: see those who make personal sacrifices for the common good 91 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: or for the good of another person as noble and admirable. 92 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: If Dirkham and others who share a like mind about 93 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,479 Speaker 1: altruism are correct, then we have bought into altruisms so 94 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: deeply that our brains have evolved to deliver pleasure to 95 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: us when we perform selfless acts. To individualists or egoists 96 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: or objectivists, on the other hand, the concept of altruism 97 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: as a social fabrication is a dangerous thing, something that 98 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: defies true human nature. The idea here is that every 99 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: person is responsible for their own life and happiness, and 100 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: that we must let every other person be equally self responsible. 101 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: This belief follows that altruistic behavior allows people to be 102 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: exploited by detalitarian governments trying to control people's lives write 103 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: down to people's moral right to exist. Altruism, in this view, 104 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: is an aspect of subservience with a dubious benefit of 105 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: having been duped into feeling good about it. It seems 106 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: we've gone a bit far afield to answer such a 107 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: seemingly simple question. Is there such a thing as a 108 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: truly unselfish act? If MRI evidence is accurate, then we 109 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: have the reward system to contend with. If evolutionists are correct, 110 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: then we perform altruistic acts in order to ensure the 111 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: survival of our genes, and if subjectivists or objectivists are right, 112 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: then we're altruistic merely because we conform to social standards. 113 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: So far, the existence for a truly unselfish act isn't 114 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: looking good. But there are two silver linings to this 115 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: admittedly sort of dark cloud. Although we are rewarded one 116 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: way or another by performing an altruistic act, it still 117 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: remains up to the individual whether or not to perform one. 118 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,359 Speaker 1: Of helping one another feels good, does that make it 119 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: any less worthwhile? Today's episode is based on the article 120 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: is there such a thing as a truly unselfish act? 121 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: On how stuffworks dot Com written by Josh Clark. Brain 122 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks 123 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 124 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 125 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.