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Altruism refers in general to actions that take other human beings into consideration, actions concerned with the well-being of others. The concept was brought into social sciences by Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in the middle of the nineteenth century as the antonym of selfishness. The earliest use of the word “egoism” (considered as the opposite to altruism) is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1722, whereas “altruism” appeared for the first time in 1853. The term derives from the Latin word alter (“other”). The word “altruism,” however, refers to two different things: the motives of the altruist or to the consequences of the action (Hardin, 1993, p. 225). Macaulay and Berkowitz’s classic definition of altruism defines it as “behaviour carried out to benefit another without anticipation of rewards from external sources” (1970, p. 3).
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Sociocultural explanations of altruism focus on its demographic correlations...
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References
Felscher, A. E., & Worthen, D. L. (2007). The altruistic species: Scientific, philosophical, and religious perspectives of human benevolence. New York: Templeton Foundation Press.
Gintis, H. (2003). Solving the puzzle of prosociality. Rationality and Society, 15(2), 155–187.
Hardin, G. (1993). Living within limits: Ecology, economics, and population taboos. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hunt, M. (1990). The compassionate beast. What science is discovering about the humane side of humankind. New York: William Morrow.
Macaulay, J., & Berkowitz, L. (1970). Altruism and helping behavior: Social psychological studies of some antecedents and consequences. New York: Academic.
Oliner, S. P., & Oliner, P. M. (1988). The altruistic personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe. New York: Free Press.
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Pessi, A.B., Saukko, E. (2022). Altruism. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_75-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_75-2
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