We love stories about altruism and might even inspire us to do so, but the group Scientists decided to investigate what exactly motivates people to altruism. help all people.
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center tracking psychological profiles of a wide range of altruists extremes of the real world.
Examples of altruists evaluated for this study include heroic rescuers, humanitarian workers and organ donors or bone marrow to strangers without any benefit to themselves.
“After rate over 300 extreme altruists and comparing them with a reference cohort of typical adults, we found that extremely generous people best distinguished from typical adults by their altruistic traits and preferences”, says Abigail Marsh, the main author of the work.
“But they are not different in many other ways. They are not more accommodating or conscientious, they are not indifferent to risk in general, and they do not even show a higher level of empathy.. Instead, their choice reflects the fact that they seem to truly value the well-being of outsiders and the well-being of their own communities.”
The research team, which included scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Linfield, prepared a variety of personality tests. psychological tests and financial tasks to be completed by a group of extreme altruistsWith. Among them were donors of kidneys, liver, bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cells to unknown persons, as well as humanitarian workers and volunteer rescuers.
Experiment results
All these tests have shown that extreme altruists tend to demonstrate consistently high levels of honesty-humility, a personality trait defined by the HEXACO personality structure model. According to Kibeom Lee and Michael Ashton, the original creators of the HEXACO model, this personality type is characterized by “the tendency to be honest and sincere in dealing with others, in the sense of cooperating with others, even when others may be exploited.” without retribution.
Usually, people with high levels of honesty-humility have a lower sense of self-importance and therefore they are unwilling to use, exploit, or harm others for their own gain.
In a sense, it seems intuitive that the trait that really sets extraordinary altruists apart from everyone else is altruism. and value the well-being of others,” Marsh explains. “
“But we actually know that this is not intuitive, because we interviewed a second group of adults and asked them to predict what traits distinguish altruists. Interestingly, they predicted that extreme altruists would be better in almost every way.os: more pleasant, more conscientious, more open, etc. In a sense, they think that altruists are perfect people, even superhuman. I think that’s why altruists are often referred to by supernatural terms like “saints” or “guardian angels”. But it is not. It’s important to know that truly altruistic people have quirks and flaws just like everyone else. They are just less selfish,” he concludes.
• Forgiveness: An act of self-love that is good for your physical and mental health.
• Tycoon Warren Buffett has donated more than $750 million to charity.
Source: La Opinion
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