Altruistic helping — the act of giving away something desirable, even at a cost to oneself — is perhaps no more evident than when it comes to food. Continue reading “Altruistic babies? Infants are willing to give up food, help others”
Altruism can be trained
Psychologists from the University of Würzburg and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have now published the results of a longitudinal study that investigated the influence of various mental trainings on prosocial behaviour over several months. Continue reading “Altruism can be trained”
For the first time, a neural link between altruism and empathy toward strangers
Giving up a kidney to a stranger requires a certain sense of selflessness, what’s come to be known in social science as extraordinary altruism. University of Pennsylvania psychologist Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz wanted to understand the connection between this trait and empathy, specifically empathy for distress emotions. Continue reading “For the first time, a neural link between altruism and empathy toward strangers”