Altruism Essay

The statement People neer intentionally act to utility others except only to obtain around veracious for themselves is oftentimes described as Altruism or an unselfish act. This statement is non entirely true. It is possible for soulfulness to intentionally act to advantage others, but this is something that does not happen very often. There argon multiple theories as to why community do and do not perpetrate selfless acts. If soul is a division of your family you argon more(prenominal) possible to function a individual in need, if you tactile property cognated-hearted towards some matchless you be likely to help a person in need or if it is a sociable norm you be likely to help them.If in a certain situation helping someone is not a social norm indeed you be little likely to help this person. yet if someone wanted to perform an unselfish act it is very difficult to do so in our federation because we reward multitude who we perceive to be good, or to ha ve through good things. If you perform an Altruistic act towards a member of your family would be acting within Hamiltons blood selection theory (1960s). The kin selection theory which states that you are much more likely to perform an altruistic act if the person you are helping is a member of your family.An utilization of this is recently in Melbourne on that point was a wall collapse. triplet people died as a result of this incident a fair sex in her thirties and an eighteen and nineteen-year-old siblings, the older brother and his infant. The older charr died upon impact, as did the brother, but only after he shielded his sister from the collapsing wall. His sister to a fault died subsequent in hospital. (ABC News, 1st April 2013) This is an example of the kin selection theory. Instead of doing what benefited himself, he tried to save his sister, despite it having alarming consequences.This would be considered an act of altruism as it did not benefit him, and in this ca se even had negative consequences, especially as his sister later died in hospital. some other reason people perform altruistic acts is forbidden of humanity. Sympathy is a natural emotion of concern for a person. Even if you cant relate to the person you feel bad for them, or concerned for them. An example of someone feeling sympathetic is Julio Diaz, who when a mugger came up to him one night with a knife he handed everywhere his wallet without complaint.When the mugger went to bye away he stopped him and offered him his coat as well, put forwarding he didnt want the mugger to get cold. He then continued to offer to buy the mugger dinner. (Huffington Post, 17th November 2011). Diaz obviously felt sympathy towards the mugger, or he wouldnt have given over his wallet, pennant and paid for his dinner. Diaz ended up getting his wallet back from the son who handed it over after they had eaten. Diaz felt sympathy towards the boy repayable to the fact that the boy had nearly n othing, where as Diaz had enough money to good live.Sympathy makes people feel like they have a object lesson obligation to help someone in need the person they feel sympathetic towards. Sometimes people help others because it is considered a social norm. An example of this is saying please and thank you. This is considered normal in most societies and it is often frowned upon if you dont use these. A social norm is something people often take for granted and a lot of people are shocked when someone doesnt follow what they consider to be normal. Another example of a social norm in our society is to carry clothes in public.If you were walking down the street and you say someone walking towards you natural you would not think this was normal. You would wonder why they were naked and often avoid walking to close to, making eye stir with, or speaking to this person. If you were in some traditional aboriginal grow you would wear nothing but animal skin, or even walk around naked. This is/was considered a social norm within that society. There are some internationally recognized social norms, like not winsome in cannibalism, and dressing modestly. trance not all societies, past or present, follow these social norms most of the world does. There are also norms within society, religion and individual families. A social norm in our society is mate-ship, not letting down your friends, family, or community. There are plenty of social norms in religion, such as in Christianity it is not exactable to love someone of the same sex. This is an example of a social norm that is slowly changing over time, as do most social norms.It was a social norm in Britain in the 1800s that you tended to(p) church, where as in 2002 only 18. 6% of people in the linked Kingdom attended church regularly. (Tearfund report, 2007) This is an example of how social norms change over time, and what we consider to be social norms at the moment may not be considered normal in 40,50,60,70 or more years. These things cannot be considered an altruistic act because you would benefit poorly from not doing these things, so it is good for you to say please and thank you, bringing it back to the first example.There are also plenty of things people do not do to help others because it is considered outside of the social norms. If you saw a drunk person on the street you probably wouldnt help them because society has shaped us to think that these people brought the state they are in on themselves, so it is not our problem to help them once they are in this situation. affable norms can be beneficial, but they can also detrimental. Another spokesperson where helping someone is not considered an altruistic act is if the act is mutually beneficial.This can cover a range of things, from the benefit to you being a smile from someone, to a bravery award. If you see a child drowning and you float out and save them and when you get back their mother says thank you and buys you an fr appe cream then you are benefiting, the ice cream being the benefit. If spell trying to save this child you drown you do not benefit in anyway, and this even has a negative affect on you. This would be an act of altruism because there is no mutual benefit.A benefit for you may be something as small as a good feeling inside, or a smile, but these are benefits of saving the child, there for there is mutual benefit. You walk away with a good feeling and maybe an ice cream and the child walks away with his life. A solid life example of this is Don Richie, who lived just across the road from one of Australias most notorious suicide locations. It is estimated that Richie saved more than one hundred sixty lives in his lifetime.He true the title of Australias local fighter in 2011(ABC Radio, 14th May 2012). This is something he got out of stopping these people commit suicide. Despite the fact that he had no knowledge he was going to receive this award when he started saving people, bec ause he received this award it is not an act of altruism. Some would argue that even if he hadnt received this award these would still not be acts of altruism, as he felt good about saving these people, and it made him a happier person.This is his benefit, making it mutually beneficial and not an act of altruism. People do act to benefit others, without obtaining good for themselves, but this is a rare situation. Whether the person wanted to obtain some good for themselves or not they some always do, as acts of kindness are rewarded in most societies. While people can intentionally act to benefit others without obtaining good for themselves this almost never happens, simply because of the way our society is shaped.