sorry but I'm up, so I had to

[yeppiagree]

Altruistic Brain Region Found

Who's read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins? I want to have a psych discussion, dammit.

Comments

[spookman]

I read the first half, and then the last chapter on culture. Certain elements from it were the inspiration for "Metal Gear Solid." I thought it was really interesting, though after a while, it seemed that every chapter said the same thing over and over again. "Animals do this in the wild. Why? To ensure their genes get passed on." And so on. I read it in high school, so my memory of it's a bit hazy.

True, though, I don't really remember reading any sections explaining true altruism, i.e. Mother Teresa. Though you could argue that Mother Teresa considered all those she helped her children, and treated them as if she had given birth to all of them herself. You could call that a mental disorder, or you could consider it a variant of propogating the species, like; humanity will be more likely to survive if you help a bunch of people, rather than raise a couple. And so on.

Anyway, I'm not really going anywhere with this, so I'm just going to stop. Cool book, though.

[harlyqinn]

I haven't but my uncle is currently reading the God Delusion which I might have been interested in reading if my uncle didn't spend the day going around the office reciting whole passages.

[yeppiagree]

Wow, he really does that? Does he hate religion?

I have not read a single good review of the god Delusion due to its fanaticism and incredibly weak arguments. Does your uncle recognize this or is he missing it?

[harlyqinn]

well there's always altruism through kin-selection. i wonder if the study covered that, and how good an indication of "true altruism" donation to charities is. how altruistic would bill gates be if he didn't have billions of dollars. i think its more a sign of money for a lot of people and are the people that sign up for research tests really the kind of people with a lot of money- mostly poor college students. plus its only 45 people tested. the article should note that a lot of our brain function is due to interaction of multiple brain area. also the test method of relying on polls and even use of brain imagining is flawed- since there's so much discrepancy in individual people- we need more clinical studies (ha) i guess people that have dysfunction in that brain area can be polled on altruism in their daily life- hard to do. guess you have to start somewhere
-steph

[yeppiagree]

Good point.

When we discussed altruism in AP Psych, one possible reason for it was the 'do-gooder's high' which can be pretty strong. But I don't think most people in their daily lives think very much about altruism, or don't consider it to be so.

And yes, if you have millions or billions of dollars, you're expected to give some of it away to charity. They should do a study of rich people who donate because I think that would give a more illuminating picture on altruism, since they aren't hindered by finances. What do you think about Warren Buffet's recent donation of...what, a billion dollars?

[spreadnparanoia]

Neat. I've read it. I wonder if this is a nature or nurture thing.

[yeppiagree]

Haha, you're the one who originally lent it to me!

Eh it's probably both, just like everything else in psychology.