An analysis of the Definition, Origin, Causes, and Effects of Altruism

Abstract

Starting from the definition of altruism, this paper first summarized "the view that altruistic behavior is jointly determined by genes and environment" through Rushton research results and gene-environment-related theories and introduced prosocial behavior to find out the commonality between prosocial behavior and altruistic behavior for joint research. Among the factors that affect the formation of altruism, this paper focuses on the role of culture, personality, and family environment. In this part, more mediating variables are used to analyze and speculate. In the part of culture, this paper divides culture into three parts: ideology and culture, agriculture, and religion. In personality, this paper mainly refers to the experiments of scholars such as Batson and Powell to explain the existence of altruistic personality and the factors affecting such personality. In the part of family environment, this paper believes that a good family environment is conducive to the formation of children's altruistic behavior. Finally, after consulting the relevant data to conclude that altruistic behavior will positively impact individuals, it is inferred that altruistic behavior will have the same positive impact on society as the impact on individuals.