These psychological phenomena may help to explain: Gil Luria, Ram Cnaan, and Amnon Boehm, “National Culture and Prosocial Behaviors Results from 66 Countries,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2014): 0899764014554456.
The top of this index is reliably dominated: “Individualism,” Clearly Cultural, http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/individualism/.
These countries are also vastly more likely: Alois Gratwohl, Helen Baldomero, Michael Gratwohl, Mahmoud Aljurf, Luis Fernando Bouzas, Mary Horowitz, Yoshihisa Kodera, Jeff Lipton, Minako Iida, Marcelo C. Pasquini, Jakob Passweg, Jeff Szer, Alejandro Madrigal, Karl Frauendorfer, Dietger Niederwieser, and WBMT (Worldwide Network of Blood and Marrow Transplantation), “Quantitative and Qualitative Differences in Use and Trends of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Global Observational Study,” Haematologica 98, no. 8 (2013): 1282–1290; WHO, “Blood Safety and Availability”; GODT (Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation), “WHO-ONT,” http://www.transplant-observatory.org/.
This may contribute to the persistent problem: A. L. N. Udegbe, Kemi Ololade Odukoya, and Babatunde E. Ogunnowo, “Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Voluntary Blood Donation Among Residents in a Rural Local Government Area in Lagos State: A Mixed Methods Survey,” Nigerian Journal of Health Sciences 15, no. 2 (2015): 80; S. O. Onuh, M. C. Umeora, and Odidika Ugochukwu Joannes Umeora, “Socio-Cultural Barriers to Voluntary Blood Donation for Obstetric Use in a Rural Nigerian Village,” African Journal of Reproductive Health (2005): 72–76; Osaro Erhabor and Teddy Charles Adias, “The Challenges of Meeting the Blood Transfusion Requirements in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Need for the Development of Alternatives to Allogenic Blood,” Journal of Blood Medicine 2 (2011): 7–21; Anju Dubey, Atul Sonker, Rahul Chaurasia, and Rajendra Chaudhary, “Knowledge, Attitude, and Beliefs of People in North India Regarding Blood Donation,” Blood Transfusion 12, suppl. 1 (2014): s21–s27; Tanja Z. Zanin, Denise P. Hersey, David C. Cone, and Pooja Agrawal, “Tapping into a Vital Resource: Understanding the Motivators and Barriers to Blood Donation in Sub-Saharan Africa,” African Journal of Emergency Medicine 6, no. 2 (2016): 70–79. For a particularly thorough exploration of relevant factors, see the following ethnographic study conducted in Pakistan: Zubia Mumtaz, Sarah Bowen, and Rubina Mumtaz, “Meanings of Blood, Bleeding, and Blood Donations in Pakistan: Implications for National vs. Global Safe Blood Supply Policies,” Health Policy and Planning 27, no. 2 (2012): 147–155..
Even within an individualist nation like the United States: Markus Kemmelmeier and Joyce A. Hartje, “Individualism and Prosocial Action: Cultural Variations in Community Volunteering,” Advances in Psychology Research 51 (2007): 149; Lam and McCullough, “Influence of Religious and Spiritual Values.”
Fiction, in particular, represents: Keith Oatley, “Fiction: Simulation of Social Worlds,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 20, no. 8 (2016): 618–628.
some subjects read a brief note: C. Daniel Batson and Nadia Y. Ahmad, “Empathy-Induced Altruism in a Prisoner’s Dilemma II: What If the Target of Empathy Has Defected?” European Journal of Social Psychology 31, no. 1 (2001): 25–36.
People who read more fiction: Oatley, “Fiction: Simulation of Social Worlds”; P. Matthjis Bal and Martijn Veltkamp, “How Does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation,” PLoS One 8, no. 1 (2013): e55341.
Chapter 8: Putting Altruism into Action
Collectivist cultures generally value conformity: Markus Kemmelmeier and Joyce A. Hartje, “Individualism and Prosocial Action: Cultural Variations in Community Volunteering,” Advances in Psychology Research 51 (2007): 149.
Yamagishi has proposed that this may explain: Toshio Yamagishi and Midori Yamagishi, “Trust and Commitment in the United States and Japan,” Motivation and Emotion 18, no. 2 (1994): 129–166.
An influential series of studies: Netta Weinstein and Richard M. Ryan, “When Helping Helps: Autonomous Motivation for Prosocial Behavior and Its Influence on Well-being for the Helper and Recipient,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98, no. 2 (2010): 222–244.
the evident satisfaction felt by Lenny Skutnik: “Hero of Plane Crash Had Little Experience in the Hero Business,” Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service, January 16, 1982.
the confusion of foreseen outcomes with intended outcomes: Thomas A. Cavanaugh, “The Intended/Foreseen Distinction’s Ethical Relevance,” Philosophical Papers 25, no. 3 (1996): 179–188.
As the Buddhist monk and neuroscience researcher: Matthieu Ricard, Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World (London: Atlantic Books, 2015), 141.
Expending resources on helping others: Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton, “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” Science 319, no. 5870 (2008): 1687–1688.
Once a mother rat has had the experience: Cort Andrew Pedersen, “Biological Aspects of Social Bonding and the Roots of Human Violence,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1036 (2004): 106–127.
the amygdala lesion patient S.M. is not a psychopath: Scott O. Lilienfeld, Katheryn C. Sauvigné, Justin Reber, Ashley L. Watts, Stephan B. Hamann, Sarah Francis Smith, Christopher J. Patrick, Shauna M. Bowes, and Daniel Tranel, “Potential Effects of Severe Bilateral Amygdala Damage on Psychopathic Personality Features: A Case Report,” Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment (December 2016), DOI: 10.1037/per0000230.
One recent tantalizing study: Robin S. Rosenberg, Shawnee L. Baughman, and Jeremy N. Bailenson, “Virtual Superheroes: Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior,” PLoS One 8, no. 1 (2013): e55003.
a twenty-year-old program with demonstrated success: Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, Veronica Smith, Anat Zaidman-Zait, and Clyde Hertzman, “Promoting Children’s Prosocial Behaviors in School: Impact of the ‘Roots of Empathy’ Program on the Social and Emotional Competence of School-Aged Children,” School Mental Health 4, no. 1 (2012): 1–21.
Even relatively brief training in compassion: Daniel Lim, Paul Condon, and David DeSteno, “Mindfulness and Compassion: An Examination of Mechanism and Scalability,” PLoS One 10, no. 2 (2015): e0118221; Paul Condon, Gaëlle Desbordes, Willa Miller, and David DeSteno, “Meditation Increases Compassionate Responses to Suffering,” Psychological Science 24 (2013): 2125–2127; Julieta Galante, Marie-Jet Bekkers, Clive Mitchell, and John Gallacher, “Loving-Kindness Meditation Effects on Well-being and Altruism: A Mixed-Methods Online RCT,” Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being (2016); Yoona Kang, Jeremy R. Gray, and John F. Dovidio, “The Nondiscriminating Heart: Lovingkindness Meditation Training Decreases Implicit Intergroup Bias,” Journal of Experimental Psychology General 143, no. 3 (2014): 1306–1313.
Humility, happily, is one of those rare and wonderful qualities: Joshua D. Foster, W. Keith Campbell, and Jean M. Twenge, “Individual Differences in Narcissism: Inflated Self-Views Across the Lifespan and Around the World,” Journal of Research in Personality 37, no. 6 (2003): 469–486; Petar Milojev and Chris G. Sibley, “The Stability of Adult Personality Varies Across Age: Evidence From a Two-Year Longitudinal Sample of Adult New Zealanders,” Journal of Research in Personality 51 (2014): 29–37.
“Just driving in our car”: K. K. Ottesen, “Cory Booker on the Perils of Heroism,” Washington Post, February 25, 2016.
INDEX
actor-observer effect, 148–149
Adams, Reginald, Jr., 186–187
adolescents. See teenagers
adoption studies, 41–43, 79
adults, 77, 88, 233–234
brains, 126
depth electrode study, 131–132, 131n
faces, 181, 196
negotiations between, 62
organ donations of, 149–150
as psychopathic, 70–71, 138–139
Africa, 176–177, 243
antelopes, 173–174, 185
wildlife of, 133–134, 173–175
Again
st Malaria Foundation, 226, 250
agape. See unconditional love
agents, patients acted upon by, 16–20, 70
aggression, 40–46, 50–51, 58–73, 77–79, 98, 202
See also psychopathy
Aka women, 176–177
alarm calls, 133–135
allomothering, 172–199, 217–221, 252
alternative realities, 208–216
altricial babies, 164–199, 201
altruism, 1–8, 105–112, 159–199, 202–254
Batson and, 53–55
effective, 225–228
empathy’s relationship with, 53–55
facial expressions’ influence on, 132–135
See also extraordinary altruism; organ donations
altruistic organ donation, nondirected, 117–122, 148
See also kidney donors
altruists
amygdalas of, 198–199
facial expression sensitivity of, 186–199
fields of force influencing, 152–155
sacrifice chosen by, 219–221
trust in, 216
See also extraordinary altruists
Ambady, Nalini, 16, 187
American Psychiatric Association, 62–63
American Red Cross, 106
amygdala, 5–6, 82–100, 131–141
of altruists, 198–199
basolateral nucleus of, 197
central nucleus of, 197–198
of extraordinary altruists, 150–153, 227–228
lateral nucleus of, 132, 150
oxytocin influencing, 192–194
as parental care system’s entry point, 189–199
psychopathic, 186, 198, 251
See also Urbach-Wiethe
anger, 62, 65–73, 134–135, 150–151
animal rescues, 204–205
antiheroes, heroes and, 21–55
anti-psychopaths, 102–124, 141–155
anxiety, 79, 153–155, 197
approach, 180–181, 197–199
Argentina, 28
Aristotle, 17, 100
Arizona, 48–49, 152
Arlington, Virginia, 144–145
Asia, 243
assault, 21–25, 47, 77–78, 134, 211
Attention deficit disorder (ADHD), 87–88
Augustine (saint), 254
avoidance, 180–181, 197–199
babies
altricial, 164–199, 201
antelopes, 173–174, 185
baboon, 174, 185, 196, 202, 242
Bengal tigers, 175–176
blue jay, 182–183
faces of, 181, 196
infants as, 196, 252
milk for, 157–199
oryx, 173–174
precocial, 165, 169
rats, 170–172, 174, 185, 192–194, 196, 197
sheep, 170, 171, 173, 194, 202
squirrels, 175, 196, 242
Syrian, 179–180
turtles, 157–165, 169–172
See also pups
baboons, 174, 185, 196, 202, 242
babyish proportions (kindchenschema), 180–199
Banks, Katie, 53–55
Barton, Clara, 154
“Batman” (fictional character), 17
Batson, Daniel, 34–39, 53–55, 109–110, 137–139, 228, 244–245
behaviorism, 43–45
behaviors, 108–112, 139–140, 247
misinterpretations of own, 108–110, 227–228
everyday helping, 235–240
prosocial, 251
research on, 121–124
status related, 59–62, 101, 117, 222, 231–237
See also altruism
Belay, Gennet, 147–149
Bengal tigers, 175–176
Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak, 28–29
Bethesda, Maryland, 51–55
The Better Angels of Our Natures (Pinker), 207–208
birth, 249
Blair, James, 5–6, 52–55, 58–65, 140
blood donations, 106–107, 204, 232–233, 242–243
BLS. See Bureau of Labor Statistics
blue jay, 182–183
body weight, 42–43
bone marrow donations, 106–107, 199, 204
Booker, Cory, 17–20, 38–39, 100, 113, 121–122, 147, 254
decision-making style, 223
field of force influencing, 152–153
religious beliefs of, 253
as superhero, 253
books, as windows into minds, 243–246
Botswana, 174
Bowlby, John, 177
brains
of adults, 126
altruism emerging from, 222–228
behavior misleading of, 227–228
of extraordinary altruists, 141–155
kidney donor scans, 141–155
of psychopaths, 57–92, 93–102, 134, 135–141
of rats, 192–194, 197
of sheep, 194
of turtles, 161
visual image processing, 125–141, 130n
See also amygdala
bravery, 153–155, 199
Brethel-Haurwitz, Kristin, 230–240
Bridgeport, Connecticut, 26–34
Brits, 212–214, 215–216
brother, 108–112
Brown University, 120–122
Buddhism, 117–122, 252–253
Bundy, Ted, 213–214
Bureau of Justice Statistics, US, 211
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), US, 206–207
bystander apathy, 25, 34
calf, 173–175
California, 31, 50–51, 154
callousness, 72, 97–99, 140, 201, 210–216
calls, 133–135
calories, 42
Canadians, 232–233
capital punishment, 208
car, 9–15
Cardinale, Elise, 91, 139
caring, 136–141, 166–199, 201–202, 208–216
altruism as, 220–221
compassion required by, 217–221
cultural changes increasing, 228–246
maternal system, 251
influence of emotion on, 225–226
See also extraordinary altruists
caring continuum, 104–105, 186
Carnegie Hero Fund, 14, 121–122, 204
medals from, 2, 4, 113, 121–122, 223–225
Central Africa, 176–177
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), US, 16
centralized governments, 221–222, 228, 245–246
certainty of purpose, 165
charities, 105–106, 179–180, 203–207, 225, 226
Germany, 234–240
US, 234–240
charity, effective, 226
chelonioidea, 164–165, 169–172
Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia, 241
chihuahua, 175, 182, 196, 242
child abuse and neglect, 46, 49–51, 79–80
children, 40–45, 249, 251–252
allomothering of, 172–199, 217–221
boys as, 229
charities using, 179–180
with conduct disorder, 62–92, 93–102
death of, 199
girls as, 76–78, 89, 179, 226, 229, 250
milk for, 157–199
mothers benefit from help caring for, 177–180
reactive aggression of, 61, 79
scarlet fever killing, 229
tantrums of, 65–73, 77–78
VIM influencing, 61–73
violence of, 65–78, 88, 92
See also teenagers
China, 240–241
Christensen, Carol, 47
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Cincinnati Zoo, 175
circles of compassion, 221
City Wildlife, 183
Civil War, 154
Cleckley, Hervey, 69–70
Clinical Center of the NIH, 195–196
Coan, Jim, 180–181
cold cognitions, 126
collectivism, 2
40–243, 247
college campuses, 211
Colombians, 208
Common Cause UK Values Survey, 212–214, 215–216
communities, 240–243
compassion, 32–45, 140–141, 181, 187
altruism in relation to, 220–221, 248–254
capacity for, 202–246
caring requiring, 217–221
circles of, 221
continuum, 122–124
cultural changes increasing, 228–246
expansion of, 202–246
of kidney donors, 216
meditation, 252–253
negativity bias influencing, 209–216
See also empathy; fields of force
conduct disorder, 62–92, 93–102
Confucian teachings, 240–241
Connecticut, 26–34
conscious awareness, 108–110, 131–132, 153
Coontz, Stephanie, 178
cooperating, 215–216, 245
corrugator supercilii, 128
cost-benefit analysis, 100, 227–228
Craigslist, 233–234
crimes, 208–209, 214, 222
Green River Killer, 46–48, 49, 69–70, 79, 114
child abuse, 46, 49-50, 64, 79, 207
sexual assault, 47, 63, 211
theft, 62-63, 74-75, 77, 95, 99
See also murders
Crips, 11–15
crocodile tears, 77
cruelty, 201–202, 207–208, 211, 213–214, 221–222
cubs, 173–174, 242
“cuddle hormone,” 195–199
cultural changes, 228–247
Cuozzo, Angela, 142–143
cynicism, 211–216, 233
cynodonts, 164–169
Darley, John, 25, 34
Dartmouth College, 5, 14–15, 132
See also Kleck, Robert
Darwin, Charles, 1, 2–3, 161, 229
daughters, 74–75, 159–164
death, 13, 14, 18, 228–229
of child, 199
from electric shock, 28
of lamb, 170, 171
at Las Vegas Strip, 23
of rat, 171
from surgery, 115
of turtles, 158–165
deep-brainer, 153
delinquency, 208–209
depression, 79, 178–179
The Descent of Man (Darwin), 1
developmental prosopagnosia, 103–104
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association), 62–63, 72
Diana monkeys, 133
dogs, 9–15, 175–176, 182, 188, 196, 242
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