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The Altruistic Urge: Why We’re Driven to Help Others
Ordinary people can perform acts of astonishing selflessness, sometimes even putting their lives on the line. A pregnant woman saw a dorsal fin and blood in the water―and dove right in to pull her wounded husband to safety. Remarkably, some even leap into action to save complete one New York man jumped onto the subway tracks to rescue a boy who had fallen into the path of an oncoming train. Such behavior is not uniquely human. Researchers have found that mother rodents are highly motivated to bring newborn pups―not just their own―back to safety. What do these stories have in common, and what do they reveal about the instinct to protect others?
In The Altruistic Urge , Stephanie D. Preston explores how and why we developed a surprisingly powerful drive to help the vulnerable. She argues that the neural and psychological mechanisms that evolved to safeguard offspring also motivate people to save strangers in need of immediate aid. Eye-catching dramatic rescues bear a striking similarity to how other mammals retrieve their young and help explain more mundane forms of support like donating money. Merging extensive interdisciplinary research that spans psychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology, Preston develops a groundbreaking model of altruistic responses. Her theory accounts for extraordinary feats of bravery, all-too-common apathy, and everything in between―and it can also be deployed to craft more effective appeals to assist those in need.
In The Altruistic Urge , Stephanie D. Preston explores how and why we developed a surprisingly powerful drive to help the vulnerable. She argues that the neural and psychological mechanisms that evolved to safeguard offspring also motivate people to save strangers in need of immediate aid. Eye-catching dramatic rescues bear a striking similarity to how other mammals retrieve their young and help explain more mundane forms of support like donating money. Merging extensive interdisciplinary research that spans psychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology, Preston develops a groundbreaking model of altruistic responses. Her theory accounts for extraordinary feats of bravery, all-too-common apathy, and everything in between―and it can also be deployed to craft more effective appeals to assist those in need.
- GenresNonfictionPsychology
344 pages, Hardcover
Published May 3, 2022
4 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 10, 2022
Very interesting book on altruistic behaviour. The book discusses altruism from various disciplines and points of view and contains many examples for clearance. It's pretty scientific, so not a super easy read, but I learned a lot from it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to read. Opinions are my honest thoughts.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to read. Opinions are my honest thoughts.
January 21, 2023
Book of the Day – The Altruistic Urge
Today’s Book of the Day is THE ALTRUISTIC URGE written by Stephanie Preston and published in 2022 by Columbia University Press.
Stephanie Preston is is professor of psychology and director of the Ecological Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michigan. She is co-editor of The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption (2014). She studied how emotions impact empathy and decision-making. by using functional neuroimaging, psychophysiology, and behavioral research,
I have chosen this book as I was looking for the latest research on empathy and altruism, so as to incorporate them in my Buddhist Sangha speeches and in my practice as a coach and consultant.
Stephanie Preston’s book THE ALTRUISTIC URGE tries to give a scientific explanation of the reasons behind the impulse and the motivation that move us to support other people when we see them suffering or in need.
The core topic of the book is that the feeling to help others is, and has been, a key element in the evolution of our species and the creation of communities. This, going against the idea that humans are essentially egoistic and aggressive toward others humans.
Preston uses her experience and the results of her research with both animals – mainly rodents and primates – and humans to demonstrate how altruism is hardwired in our brains. This happens as, as a species, we have a survival instinct to keep our offspring alive.
In today’s society, this instinct seems to have become less urgent, but the author suggests that if we start believing that our help can have a significant impact on other people’s lives, then altruism can become a key element of progress and growth.
Preston gives many examples of how we can develop this feeling, this drive to help others, to support those who are in need, and to care about those who are vulnerable. And all of this is supported by scientific evidence, gained by using psychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and evolutionary study in behavior and biology.
What I found positive in this book is that scientific rigor gets mixed with wholehearted examples of support, help, and care for others. The empathy of the author pours out from every page of this work.
A very interesting theory about evolution, the one that comes out of Preston‘s book, that makes me even more confident that we, as humans, are intrinsically social beings, designed to care about, help, and love others. We may forget this, under the pressure of negative circumstances, but our true nature is about surviving and caring.
I think that The Altruistic Urge is a must-read for everyone. Both if you are interested in the social impact that altruism and caring can have on our societies and communities, or if you are curious about how our brain has evolved such a helping behavior and attitude.
Today’s Book of the Day is THE ALTRUISTIC URGE written by Stephanie Preston and published in 2022 by Columbia University Press.
Stephanie Preston is is professor of psychology and director of the Ecological Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michigan. She is co-editor of The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption (2014). She studied how emotions impact empathy and decision-making. by using functional neuroimaging, psychophysiology, and behavioral research,
I have chosen this book as I was looking for the latest research on empathy and altruism, so as to incorporate them in my Buddhist Sangha speeches and in my practice as a coach and consultant.
Stephanie Preston’s book THE ALTRUISTIC URGE tries to give a scientific explanation of the reasons behind the impulse and the motivation that move us to support other people when we see them suffering or in need.
The core topic of the book is that the feeling to help others is, and has been, a key element in the evolution of our species and the creation of communities. This, going against the idea that humans are essentially egoistic and aggressive toward others humans.
Preston uses her experience and the results of her research with both animals – mainly rodents and primates – and humans to demonstrate how altruism is hardwired in our brains. This happens as, as a species, we have a survival instinct to keep our offspring alive.
In today’s society, this instinct seems to have become less urgent, but the author suggests that if we start believing that our help can have a significant impact on other people’s lives, then altruism can become a key element of progress and growth.
Preston gives many examples of how we can develop this feeling, this drive to help others, to support those who are in need, and to care about those who are vulnerable. And all of this is supported by scientific evidence, gained by using psychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and evolutionary study in behavior and biology.
What I found positive in this book is that scientific rigor gets mixed with wholehearted examples of support, help, and care for others. The empathy of the author pours out from every page of this work.
A very interesting theory about evolution, the one that comes out of Preston‘s book, that makes me even more confident that we, as humans, are intrinsically social beings, designed to care about, help, and love others. We may forget this, under the pressure of negative circumstances, but our true nature is about surviving and caring.
I think that The Altruistic Urge is a must-read for everyone. Both if you are interested in the social impact that altruism and caring can have on our societies and communities, or if you are curious about how our brain has evolved such a helping behavior and attitude.
April 17, 2023
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of altruism ever since I got sober because we’re taught to be selfless in order to stay sober, which seems kind of selfish. Since then, I’ve noticed it in normal human behavior where altruism always seems to have some sort of selfish motive behind it like trying to raise one’s status. So, when i saw this book by Stephanie Preston at the book store, I had to pick itup. Although I’m an altruism pessimist, it doesn’t explain when people risk their lives for strangers.
In short, Preston’s theory is that this urge to help others at risk to ourselves is actually kind of predictable. She starts by explaining the evolutionary idea behind this urge, which is to help infants who are helpless. Then, she goes on to discuss how we actually do rapid assessments in our heads about whether or not we’re capable of helping the person in need (ie: if I was 100 lbs, I wouldn’t jump on a subway track to save a 300 lb man).
There’s much, much more to this book, and Preston brings a ton of research to back her theory as well. It made altruism make a lot more sense, and she’s leaning me more toward a believer based on how we evolved. If this is a topic you’re curious about, you should grab a coppy of this book.
In short, Preston’s theory is that this urge to help others at risk to ourselves is actually kind of predictable. She starts by explaining the evolutionary idea behind this urge, which is to help infants who are helpless. Then, she goes on to discuss how we actually do rapid assessments in our heads about whether or not we’re capable of helping the person in need (ie: if I was 100 lbs, I wouldn’t jump on a subway track to save a 300 lb man).
There’s much, much more to this book, and Preston brings a ton of research to back her theory as well. It made altruism make a lot more sense, and she’s leaning me more toward a believer based on how we evolved. If this is a topic you’re curious about, you should grab a coppy of this book.
May 7, 2023
I expected so much more from this book. I tend to plod through non-fiction books at a much slower rate than fiction, but this took longer than it should have.
I am fascinated by the concept of altruism. Although it is an easy out, I think there is an episode in the TV series Friends where Phoebe wants to do something for someone else without feeling good about it herself, i.e. not getting something out of it. I have always wondered about the different levels of ease people have with lending time and energy to others, not being a very instinctively helpful person myself.
All of these are good talking points, but since a person's brain activity has not been measured during an altruistic act, the author focuses on lab experiments of rats and how evolution might have impacted what we consider to be altruistic or not.
It is very dry, and the format I read it in did not help. It has a lot of facts, and the author tends to summarize everything at the end of every chapter. I wanted so much more from this topic, and logically it might have been too much to realistically get, but I struggled to make my way through the book and would only recommend it to the more academic-minded of readers. I think that set of people will be able to get to the actual point of the book.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
I am fascinated by the concept of altruism. Although it is an easy out, I think there is an episode in the TV series Friends where Phoebe wants to do something for someone else without feeling good about it herself, i.e. not getting something out of it. I have always wondered about the different levels of ease people have with lending time and energy to others, not being a very instinctively helpful person myself.
All of these are good talking points, but since a person's brain activity has not been measured during an altruistic act, the author focuses on lab experiments of rats and how evolution might have impacted what we consider to be altruistic or not.
It is very dry, and the format I read it in did not help. It has a lot of facts, and the author tends to summarize everything at the end of every chapter. I wanted so much more from this topic, and logically it might have been too much to realistically get, but I struggled to make my way through the book and would only recommend it to the more academic-minded of readers. I think that set of people will be able to get to the actual point of the book.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
December 28, 2022
When I saw the book in the library, I thought it will be about that why do we help others or why do we keep quiet in certain situations where ideally we should speak up for ourselves but looking at time, the relationship we choose to be quiet. And some people are able to be with that feeling on unease and convey what they genuinely want to. For instance, recently a friend of mine asked her roommate to help her with some returns to which her roommate replied I can't do your chores. Whereas I would have taken a raincheck or suggested UPS pickup or something but this would have been in my top 500 options to dodge the situation.
But the books just calls these acts as trying to be "heroic" and instead focuses on the rat story that why some rats helped baby rats. Or why we help in certain situations where we can harm ourselves for instance jumping in a river to save a drowning person. Wasn't what I expected it to be but not a marvellous our of the world read either.
But the books just calls these acts as trying to be "heroic" and instead focuses on the rat story that why some rats helped baby rats. Or why we help in certain situations where we can harm ourselves for instance jumping in a river to save a drowning person. Wasn't what I expected it to be but not a marvellous our of the world read either.
January 21, 2024
An academic attempt to classify and analyze one out of several types of altruism which is, unexpectedly, incredibly well-written. I would read this for fun.
The writing also has excellent clarity and specificity (and thereby also individuality).
The writing also has excellent clarity and specificity (and thereby also individuality).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews