Pathological Altruism

by Barbara Oakley (Editor), Ariel Knafo (Editor), Guruprasad Madhavan (Editor)

The benefits of altruism and empathy are obvious. These qualities are so highly regarded and embedded in both secular and religious societies that it seems almost heretical to suggest they can cause harm. Like most good things, however, altruism can be distorted or taken to an unhealthy extreme. Pathological Altruism presents a number of new, thought-provoking theses that explore a range of hurtful effects of altruism and empathy.

Pathologies of empathy, for example, may trigger depression as well as the burnout seen in healthcare professionals. The selflessness of patients with eating abnormalities forms an important aspect of those disorders. Hyperempathy - an excess of concern for what others think and how they feel - helps explain popular but poorly defined concepts such as codependency. In fact, pathological altruism, in the form of an unhealthy focus on others to the detriment of one's own needs, may underpin some personality disorders.

Pathologies of altruism and empathy not only underlie health issues, but also a disparate slew of humankind's most troubled features, including genocide, suicide bombing, self-righteous political partisanship, and ineffective philanthropic and social programs that ultimately worsen the situations they are meant to aid. Pathological Altruism is a groundbreaking new book - the first to explore the negative aspects of altruism and empathy, seemingly uniformly positive traits. The contributing authors provide a scientific, social, and cultural foundation for the subject of pathological altruism, creating a new field of inquiry. Each author's approach points to one disturbing what we value so much, the altruistic "good" side of human nature, can also have a dark side that we ignore at our peril.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science, Sociology, Social Science, Evolution

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Barbara Oakley, PhD, a 'female Indiana Jones,' is one of the few women to hold a doctorate in systems engineering. She chronicled her adventures on Soviet fishing boats in the Bering Sea in Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler. She also served as a radio operator in Antarctica and rose from private to captain in the U.S. Army. Now an associate professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan, Oakley is a recent vice president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times to the IEEE Transactions on Nanobioscience.

Reviews

[Ayse_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a valuable compilation of narrations on different aspects of pathological altruism based on current scientific literature. It is not easily read like the other books of B. Oakley; however it is a very educational and interesting book.

Pathological altruism is a type of cognitive-behavioral problem that; the person feels/perceives oneself sacrificing for the benefit of others, however the attempt fails to create welfare of others and may actually cause harm to oneself or others. It is a complex multi-faceted problem.

It is eye-opening to see that survivor`s guilt, self-righteousness, selflessness, dependent personality, pathological certitude and many forms of people pleasing behavior are some of the aspects of this dysfunction.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An encyclopaedic yet entirely readable collection of scientific articles exploring the concept and origins of altruism gone wrong. While the idea of altruistic behaviours sitting on a spectrum from a healthy to pathological qualities may sit uncomfortably with some, it is by no means a new concept. Buddhist studies also distinguish between 'mindless/idiot' and 'mindful/helpful' compassion, and the concept in psychodynamic/psychological theories is hinted at in constructs of 'rescue transferences' as well as vicarious traumatization/burnout.
This book integrates information from a wide variety of disciplines, and is particualrly thorough in outlining the neurobiology of altruistic behaviour, before discussing pathological variants. Neuroscientists will be familiar with the summaries of the place of neurohormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin have here, and the structural correlates of helpful behaviours (Dopamine reward pathways in the ventral tegmentum, the anterior temporal pole, the frontal OFC/VMPFC and limbic amygdala, insula and subgenual cingulate components).
Going back to the mindless versus mindful altruism dichotomy, a case is made for reconceptualizing burnout as 'Empathic distress', which can then lead to pathological altruism as a means of relieving one's distress by helping others. This is very similar to the idea of 'emotional empathy', whereby one's mirror neurons resonate with the distress of the other; however one is unable to see oneself as separate from the other. Pathological guilt may then become entrenched, and additionally add to the potentially damaging impact by predisposing the helper to such psychiatric conditions such as PTSD, Depression and OCD. The authors then go on to speculate how a childhood history characterised by parental depression, love withdrawal, guilt induction and high criticism may predispose to helpers experiencing guilt and empathic distress.
Truly altruistic behaviour arises out of 'Empathic concern', whereby one can sympathize with another's distress but is able to clearly demarcate self from other, thus enabling the mental space required to formulate effective and efficient means of supporting and helping the distressed other. In empathy studies, this position is known as 'cognitive empathy', or'perspective taling', and is dependent on both the intact functioning of mirror neuron and deeper limbic structures, as well as the orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex interacting in an integrated manner. Clearly, if one only has the cognitive perspective without the ability to resonate with another's ditress, this gives rise to the much maligned psychopathic conditions. If both are compromised, then one segues into the hypo-empathic autism and schizophernia spectrum disorders.
There is also a prominent contribution from genetics and evolutionary science. Evidence from a genetic perspective is taken from the example of Williams syndrome, a chromosomal disorder whose sufferers consistently show highly altruistic, social approach behaviours which make them vulnerable to exploitation. The concept of 'in group' or parochial altruism is looked at from inclusive fitness/multilevel group selection theory, and is tied in with more recent neuroscience findings regarding oxytocin supporting this.
For the clinician, there is a brilliant chapter on the psychodynamics of P.A, based on the motivations and intentions behind the act. The author's informed distinction between protective, defensive, masochistic and malignant altruism will be of significant aid in understanding and formulating patients' problems.
The cultural aspects are not forgotten, and there is a chapter detailing the significant differences between Western (read; USA) and eastern (read: japanese)concepts and understanding. There is also a chapter reminding us that genes interact with the surrounding culture: While the s/s allele of the 5HTTP gene predisposes 'western' populations to an other-focus and increased rates of depression/anxiety, the same allele in japanese populations also predispose to helpful behaviours however, with REDUCED rates of psychiatric disorders.
To round it all off, there are very interesting chapters studying the biography of Mahatma Gandhi, an acceptance/commitment based approach to P.A, how P.A relates to suicide terrorism and even a chapter warning us on the dangers and pitfalls of first contact with extra terrestrials!
Hard work, effortful reading but ultimately highly rewarding.

[Chet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really an interesting and intellectual read. Although it is a collection of academic papers, presented as chapters, it is for the most part understandable by the layperson and the ideas are very creative and are presented methodically. I found this book while searching on codependency, which is a psychological condition whereas the subject thinks they are helping someone who they are really hurting. The enabling wife of an alcoholic is the traditional example. However, there are many other types of codependency and now, thanks to this book, we can see that there are many other types of pathological altruism. More moderate examples are overtreating cancer, suicide attackers, and animal hoarders. An extreme example is mass genocide. Read this book and be fascinated.

[Jess d'Artagnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of scholarly articles explores the topic of pathological altruism. Pathological altruism is described as someone who acts with the sincere intention of doing good, but who ends up causing harm to themselves or others. One of the articles I found most interesting was the concept of self-addiction and addiction to the feeling of self-righteousness. The argument was that feeling self-righteous can trigger the same addictive neurological response as other forms of process addiction (ie gambling or shopping). The book is super interesting, but the academic writing style will make it inaccessible and downright boring for some people.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I do not suggest that everyone read it from cover to cover as I did (goodreads challenge), but by flipping through you are highly likely to come across something fascinating that you have not read about before (unless you study altruism for a living).

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the kind of book I would normally read (collection of scientific studies), but the topic is conceptually fascinating and I'm a big fan of the editor, Barbara Oakley and her MOOC "Learning How to Learn." There are many ways that altruism can be harmful, and as someone who likes to try to be altruistic, it was good food for thought to consider the shadow side of doing good.

[Jacob Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several interesting articles. Reviewed at: https://brokensandals.net/reviews/pat...

[SpaceBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a fascinating discussion of the concept of pathological altruism; when people tried to help, but in doing so lead to harm for themselves and other. It discusses the issue from the perspectives if psychology, political science / sociology, and evolutionary biology. The 30 or so chapters are incredibly diverse in approach and style, though all centered on the broader theme. An incredibly interesting book for anyone who wants to better understand why those aim to help often end up causing harm.

[Graham Seibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brings together several fresh fields of science in a remarkable series of papers.

This collection of papers explores many different manifestations of pathological altruism. One of the most extreme would be suicide bombers. A couple of the papers explore the cultural dimension of suicide bombers. What they do is reprehensible in according to Western cultural values, but may make sense, and indeed be altruistic, by the whites of the cultures in which the suicide bombers act. Likewise beheadings, to name one that they cite. We in the West look at beheadings is incredibly barbarous acts, but in another culture that is simply a means of dealing with crime. Other pathological altruists may be super patriots, military men who give their lives for other people and their units, battered wives who enable their husbands, likewise the wives of alcoholics who enable their husbands, people with eating disorders, cat ladies who supposedly taking care of animals actually affirm the men themselves, foreign aid donors, who are motivated more by the good feeling that comes with giving then the actual benefits of long-term benefits received by the beneficiaries. In this case they cite Linda Polman's book, The Crisis Caravan (which I reviewed) among others.

Science builds on theories. A theory starts out as a wild hunch. That hunch will be consistent with certain observations. The scientist posits it as a theory and devises future tests. The test cannot prove that a theory is true, but they can prove that they are false. The theory which stands up to efforts to prove its falsehood for long enough becomes generally accepted. Theories thus move from the fringe, believed by a few, to being mainstream over a period of several years. A recent example would be the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe.

So the progression is that something goes from a wild-eyed theory to a generally accepted theory and then from generally accepted theory to being a fact that is so universally accepted that it's everyday knowledge. Something such as Galileo's wild eyed theory that the earth revolves around the sun is now in the category of facts which everybody accepts.

There's a parallel process of theories operating in the political realm. People come up with political theories. Plato and Aristotle did. Karl Marx did. The Enlightenment did. Those theories may be subject to empirical tests but they are also subject to political operation. A theory may be false, but if it has the support of a majority of people in a democracy, is accepted nonetheless. Communism was based on a theory of human nature that was absolutely false. Communism posited that people were sufficiently altruistic that they would all work for the common good. This has nowhere been observed to be true and it proved not to be true in the Soviet Union. However the theory was imposed by popular the will, if not in Russia, at least in other places where the communists were voted into power. It has been tried.

Likewise, there have been a number of theories of human nature that have been popular through the 20th century. The most common of these might be called the Standard Social Science Model, which arose from the work of Watson and Skinner in the 1930s, which posited that human beings were all essentially the same, and that whatever differences occurred among adult individuals was a matter of their socialization. Watson famously said, give him 12 healthy infants and he will give you a doctor and a beggarman out of them. Who they became was 100% cultural, zero percent attributable to inherited traits.

The Standard Social Science Model has dominated the educational realm for 50 years or so. This Standard Social Science Model is the underlying hypothesis behind the theories that there are no differences among races, sexes, and people of different sexual orientations. That's the equality posited by democracy, rather, the equality under law but the labor which the Enlightenment philosophers said must exist, was also was true because people are in fact equal in capabilities.

Several new fields of science have emerged over the past third of a century, among them molecular biology and genetics, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, and a rich literature on self deception. They are supported by a rich assortment of mathematical modeling tools and statistical analysis tools. These authors assume the reader to be familiar with the science and the supporting tools. They do not even acknowledge that huge swaths of the academic community have yet to abandon the Standard Social Science Model in the face of such rich bodies of new work. This book simply assumes a number of theories to be true. In other words, there is a sufficient acceptance of the theses upon which the theories in this book are based the nobody questions them. Let me list the interesting theories.

First, there is a thesis that human beings continue to evolve. It is pretty much universally agreed that the human species, Homo sapiens, migrated out of Africa 50,000 years ago. Evolution then continued among the peoples who immigrated out of Africa. Moreover, the pace of evolution quickened with the human diaspora throughout the planet, and especially since the dawn of agriculture.

Part of the cultural genetic evolution had to do with Asiatics and Europeans differential metabolic and mental processes governed by serotonin and vasopressin. The Oriental societies are more consensus oriented, more cooperative, whereas Western societies are more individualistic. This is demonstrated by genetic differences that parallel the cultural differences.

Similarly, these authors assume the theory that there are differences between men and women's brains. Men's brains are formed in the presence of testosterone in utero, and they operate somewhat differently than women's brains. The processes are the same, but under the influence of varying amounts of hormones, the outcomes may be different. Specifically, they find that men have a somewhat of a tendency to suppress emotion and look for engineering type solutions. The extreme example of this type of mindset has found an autistic people, who are predominantly male. At the other end of the spectrum there are people who are more driven by empathy. These are more frequently women than men, although there is broad overlap. The important question here is that there is neurological research to support empirical observations about sex differences.

One of the facts which underlies much of the science is the new tools and statistics that have emerged over the past few decades. One of them is structural equation modeling. The papers presented in this volume did not talk about that the mechanics, the tools by which they the researchers cited in their studies prove their points, but it is almost universally done using statistical methods, probably using the software found in the SPSS package - statistical package for the social sciences. The availability of the software, about 40 years now, has revolutionized the social sciences in that it is now feasible to do reasonably top reasonably good quality analyses. The papers cited here talk about the various study instruments and the correlations that they find. Establishing the validity of test instruments, questionnaires and the like, is an entire science of itself which is emerged in parallel. It is very true that not all tests in the social sciences conform to the rigorous standards of statistics and sampling techniques. Nonetheless, there are standards by which they can be measured, and when a test is cited in a papers such as the many in this volume, one assumes one at least knows that there are criteria to which the statistical analyses could be subjected if one wanted to criticize the question is not whether or not a given study is correct. There is a preponderance of evidence question. There are so many studies, pointing more or less the same direction, that unless there is widespread collusion that direction must be valid.

Another thing that is taken as given in all of the studies cited here is neurological research using fMRI that is, functional MRIs. Neuroscience has come an incredibly long ways. Neuroscientists are able to watch physiologically what happens in certain areas of the brain under all sorts of varying circumstances. We know now, the way that we certainly did not 30 years ago, which parts of the brain are involved in which functions. We also know a great deal more about genetics and we did 30 years ago. In the intervening time we have decoded the entire human genome, and we know which genes are generally involved in processes such as empathy, rest considered decision-making versus impulsive decision-making, wifebeating and many other social phenomena. While it is rare to find a genetic determinism, a situation in which a genetic anomaly definitely dictates some mental outcome, it is extremely common to find correlations that are significant between behaviors and genetic compositions of people. This is at odds with the hypothesis of the Standard Social Science Model, which only makes sense - that model is extremely dated, about 80 years old.

There is a question of free will which the author which many of the papers in this volume tackled. Given that there may be a genetic predisposition to some behavior, pathological altruism being the subject at hand, the question is to what extent do the actors retain free will, and to what extent are they simply the captives of their genetic makeup, and do not have any choice in how they behave. For instance, psychopaths have a typically different serotonin metabolism than normal people. Are psychopaths responsible for their actions? Here again we bring science up against social considerations. The social considerations are the laws, on one hand, and the political process which writes the laws. The papers in this volume address the conflicts among science, politics and law, without proposing in general a resolution. It appears necessary to continue to work with the hypothesis that free will is operative, that people are generally responsible for their acts. This must be sure even though it is certainly the case that people are genetically predisposed to some kind of actions rather than others.

Finally, to the question that is not broadly addressed: manifestations of pathological altruism among entire societies. One might posit that the Germans are so contrite, so anxious to make amends for the crimes of the Third Reich that they go overboard making amends and apologizing, and are reluctant even to have children. One paper questions whether it is real altruism not to have children, but rather spend one's money vacationing "from Arizona to Zimbabwe." Still, there is much more work to be done. Google "Kevin MacDonald" "pathological altruism" for some interesting work on the Scandinavians.

[Paul Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost like a textbook of essays. The general idea comes with the title, and if you're really diving deep this book is chock full of cited sources. Wonderful new colloquialism for the psychology nerds; Pathological Altruism.

Definition of pathological altruism: "A person who sincerely engages in what he or she intends to be altruistic acts, but who harms the very person or group he or she is trying to help, often in unanticipated fashion; or harms others; or irrationally becomes a victim of his or her own altruistic actions." Pg4 Pathological Altruism

-Variations on pathological altruism:
Codependency, Empathy-Based pathological guilt, Survivor guilt ("shoulda been me"), Self-addiction (similar to narcissism, hyper-sociability, or "look at me!")
[Exp. The cat lady, hyper-sociability, genocide, suicide attack martyrdoms]

[Rudy Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as good as Evil Genes, but still very strong on theory and argument. Good illustrations of her points as usual too.

[Dianne J]

Another great well-researched book by Barbara Oakley. She definitely came to this planet to write books on pathology.

[Damion]

I wanted this book for chapter 8 (the paper on animal hoarding). The overall book is more technical than I expected and is formatted like a college textbook. It's worth checking out but feel free to skip and skim through it.