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Mercedez Soliz

Professor Burleson

PHIL 1312-1

17 April 2023

Altruism
We can see altruistic people as someone being evil, but what about those who help others

knowing that they won’t get benefits in return? Yes, some people take advantage of that, but

those are the type of people who are genuinely selfish because it is what makes them happy. We

must ask ourselves, “Are all people altruistic?” I believe each altruistic person has their own

desires that don’t necessarily make all of them selfish. Those desires may aim to benefit others

while some desires aim to satisfy themselves. Altruism doesn’t just stem from doing favors, it

can come from trauma and religion too.

First of all, Altruism is defined as the act of assisting in someone else’s welfare, even at

the risk or cost to ourselves. Altruism was first developed in the 19th century. The French term

“altruisme” is derived from Latin word Alteri or “other people.” The term was first coined by

Auguste Comte, a founder of Positivism, and related altruism to egoism. Altruism applies to my

everyday life from giving up my seat on a bus for the elderly, paying for someone’s food,

helping a citizen cross the road, donating blood or an organ, and so many other acts of kindness.

Now, a person may ask “Mercedez why would you do all these things for other people knowing

you won’t get anything from them in return?”

My answer to this question is simple. It makes me happy to know that a simple act of

kindness could bring joy to someone else’s life. Of course, I know that a person could take

advantage of my kindness but that is when I know to stop those acts. A quote from William T.
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Powers says “The childhood of the human race is far from over. We have a long way to go

before most people will understand that what they do for others is just as important to their well-

being as what they do for themselves.” According to the article “Why Altruism is Selfish:

Psychology Explains the Paradox,” by Beatrice Barbazzeni, brings up important questions we

must ask ourselves on altruism, such as, (“Is altruism really “scopeless” and “no-profit” or a

healthy form of selfishness?”) (“Does altruism really exist, and can it even be pathologic?”) (“Is

selfishness really so bad?”)

The first question this article asks is (“How psychology influences altruism?”)

Psychology has an influence on altruism by feeling empathy, sympathy, and benevolence.

Another term we can involve with altruism is sacrificial serving, the act of giving without

expecting any reward in return. Furthermore, selfishness can be a natural human behavior

because humans naturally tend to look after themselves. A great example of this would be

survival or the phrase “fight or flight.” Psychology influences selfishness when an individual is

greedy, insecure, and self-preservation. All of these feelings make an individual feel power, and

dominance, and wanting more. An individual could have everything in the world and more but

still want more. We then must ask “When will it ever be enough?”

The article (“Religion, Altruism, and Helping Strangers: A Multilevel Analysis of 126

Countries Abstract,”) finds that individuals who are committed to practicing their religion are

more likely to help others. Religion has an impact on an individual’s norms that ignites the

motivation to help others. The article states that (“Religious participation brings people into

social networks in which people are more likely to be asked to help others.”)

In the journal “(Religiosity, Altruism, and Altruistic Hypocrisy: Evidence from Protestant

Adolescents,”) points out that altruism is is the center point of the Judeo-Christian religion.
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Church and religious people believe they carry out God’s will when doing admirable favors for

others and expecting nothing in return. For this journal, a study was done out of 1, 366 adults in

the United States, and out of those adults found that fundamentalist Christians are far up the

empathy scale than liberal Christians. The study also showed that churchgoers tend to show more

compassion, but less altruistic values than individuals who do not go to church.

Not only does religion play into altruism, but so do trauma and victimization. Trauma and

victimization have led to individuals helping and caring for others despite what they have gone

through. We will look into how “altruism born of suffering,” meaning that people are born into a

life of suffering and pour their time and energy into others as a way to make them feel better

about what an individual is going through. Being able to understand how individuals come to be

compassionate people instead of hostile will help stimulate the formation of a more problem-free

world.

In the beginning of the journal (“ACEs Wild: Making Meaning out of Trauma Through

Altruism Born of Suffering,”) uses a quote at the very beginning which states (“If you have been

brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to others, then you deserve a love deeper

than the ocean itself.”)-Nikita Gill. This quote should really help others look at those who

deserve a deep love because of the trauma they have gone through and all the suffering they

endured. People who have gone through serious events could end up with serious long-term

consequences that could be harmful. An ACE study shows that people who have been broken or

damaged are at a high risk for physical and mental effects like depression, PTDS, substance

abuse, and anxiety, and even death.

In the journal, Staub and Vollhardt (2009) have interpreted ABS as (“some who have

suffered from violence reclaim meaning and turn towards others, becoming caring and helpful.”)
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I believe they are trying to say that those who could not find meaning in their life on their own

seek out others who they believe can help them. In turn, they achieve this meaning and possibly

help others who are in a similar situation they used to be in. Furthermore, Hernández Engstrom

and Gangsei (2010) have also described ABS as the (“processes by which individuals move from

survivorship to an activist quest to help others.”)

In the end, can we really assume that altruism makes us selfish? Many reasons people are

altruistic stem from religion, trauma, victimization, and people that strive to help others and

expect nothing in return. I know that as an individual I can be altruistic at times, sometimes I

expect something in return and sometimes I don’t. At times I can be selfish, but I become selfish

just to protect myself because of how the world is. Of course, I am not gonna say that altruism

does not make people selfish because there are people out there who take advantage of people

when they do favors for them. Those people feed off of that and when other people do favors for

them, that is what makes them happy.

Works Cited
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Barbazzeni, Beatrice. “Why Altruism Is Selfish: Psychology Explains the Paradox.” ExO Insight,

28 Sept. 2022, insight.openexo.com/why-altruism-is-selfish-psychology-explains-the-

paradox/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

Bennett, Matthew R., and Christopher J. Einolf. “Religion, Altruism, and Helping Strangers: A

Multilevel Analysis of 126 Countries.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol.

56, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 323–41, https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12328. Accessed 7 May

2020.

Gibson, Jessica. ACEs Wild: Making Meaning out of Trauma through Altruism Born of

Suffering. 19 July 2018, aura.antioch.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1456&context=etds. Accessed 16 Apr. 2023.

Ji, Chang-Ho C., et al. “Religiosity, Altruism, and Altruistic Hypocrisy: Evidence from

Protestant Adolescents.” Review of Religious Research, vol. 48, no. 2, 2006, pp. 156–78,

www.jstor.org/stable/20058130. Accessed 16 Apr. 2023.

Staub, Ervin, and Johanna Vollhardt. “Altruism Born of Suffering: The Roots of Caring and

Helping after Victimization and Other Trauma.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,

vol. 78, no. 3, 2008, pp. 267–80, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014223.