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altruism
altruism
altruism Behaviour by an animal that decreases its chances of survival or reproduction while increasing those of another member of the same species. For example, a lapwing puts itself at risk by luring a predator away from the nest through feigning injury, but by so doing saves its offspring. Altruism in its biological sense does not imply any conscious benevolence on the part of the performer. Altruism can evolve through
kin selection, if the recipients of altruistic acts tend on average to be more closely related to the altruist than the population as a whole. See also
alarm signal;
inclusive fitness.
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Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue
Magazine article from: Personnel Psychology; 7/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...Schloss, and William B. Hurlbut (Editors). Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy...defining and studying phenomena. So it is with altruism. A psychologist might view altruism as an intention to be helpful to another individual...
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Altruism versus egoism in human behavior of mixed motives: an experimental study. (Focus on Homoeconomicus).
Magazine article from: The American Journal of Economics and Sociology; 10/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...view involving normative features of altruism, which also appears in recent research...with an introduction of the notions of altruism from the perspectives of psychology and...Section 2 discusses the relevance of altruism and egoism to motives of people's altruistic...
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Altruism and the Separateness of Persons.
Magazine article from: Social Theory and Practice; 7/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...being. I shall call these reasons for altruism. Does reflection on the nature of personal...conviction that there are reasons for altruism? A growing number of contemporary philosophers...consequence is that it strengthens the case for altruism. I shall call arguments of this general...
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About altruism.(Essay)
Magazine article from: Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly; 1/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...second question is practical. Although altruism does not guarantee desirable results...find--what we might call constructive altruism could alleviate a lot of suffering...question. Who would doubt the existence of altruism? Two recent news stories seem to prove...
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Varieties of altruism - and the common ground between them.
Magazine article from: Social Research; 6/22/1997; ; 700+ words
; ...Either it is an example of kin selected altruism, such as occurs between blood relatives...child. Or it is an example of reciprocal altruism, such as occurs between nonrelatives...individual who is hungry. The first kind of altruism was given a theoretical explanation by...
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The lived experience of spontaneous altruism: a phenomenological study.
Magazine article from: Journal of Phenomenological Psychology; 3/22/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...psychological and behavioral aspects of altruism (Post, Johnson, McCullough &...of the lived experience of spontaneous altruism. This study seeks to fill the gap left...of the lived experience of spontaneous altruism. Three participants wrote descriptions...
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Promoting altruism in the classroom.
Magazine article from: Childhood Education; 12/22/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...Dudelczyk, 1983), all of which have an element of altruism. Altruism is defined by Eisenberg et al. (1999) as "behavior...p. 1360). Therefore, it is our contention that altruism is the purest form of caring--selfless and non...
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On indirect reciprocity: the distinction between reciprocity and altruism, and a comment on suicide terrorism.(Symposium on African Economic Development and Failure)
Magazine article from: The American Journal of Economics and Sociology; 11/1/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...I discuss the relationship between altruism and reciprocity and its relevance to...strong tendency in biology to dissolve altruism. Normatively, the article argues against...those terrorists' behavior. However, altruism, particularly in the form of metaphysical...
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A phenomenological investigation of altruism as experienced by moral exemplars.(Report)
Magazine article from: Journal of Phenomenological Psychology; 6/22/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...to investigate and document the lived experience of altruism as described by moral exemplars. Six moral exemplars...of situations in which they engaged in spontaneous altruism. Altruism was defined for the purpose of this study as a motivational...
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Altruism and Christian Ethics.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Theological Studies; 6/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...has organized his book into three sections dealing respectively with (1) "alien altruism" (positions that regard altruism as illusory), (2) "ideal altruism" (attempts to provide philosophical grounding for duties of altruism), and...
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Altruism
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
Altruism Altruism is a modern concept attributed to Auguste Comte, a French philosopher...the field of sociology in the mid-nineteenth century. The idea of altruism has antecedents in the early modern discussion of benevolence and in...
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altruism
Book article from: A Dictionary of Sociology
altruism Behaviour which takes account of the interests...sociobiology (as well as sociology) on altruism, its sources and consequences, and on...explained by egoistic motives. Research on altruism is also relevant to exchange theory and...
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Altruism and Prosocial Behavior
Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Altruism and Prosocial Behavior Social scientists use the word altruism to describe two distinct phenomena — motivation...behavior . Although it is more common to describe altruism as a motivational state with the goal of increasing...
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sociobiology
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Body
...developments addressed the phenomenon of altruism, which had long been seen as a problem...evolutionary biology (see evolution ). Altruism is defined by biologists as any act that...reproductive success, it seemed that altruism could not have evolved by such a process...
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Mary Burton Midgely
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...human behavior. An example of a natural tendency is altruism. Altruism is the ability to do good for others. The classical...interests and were incapable of acting for others. Altruism was inconsistent with human nature. But animal behavior...
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