According to Sampson, community well-being is attributed to high collective efficacy and altruistic character but low personal cynicism. In another article by Sampson published in 2013 he states that when disaster strikes, the sociable people with ties to their community are the survivors of the calamity.
In another study done by J Andre and O. Morin (2011) They explore the idea that Altruistic Character is an evolutionary trait and we altruism is shown to a non-kin it is a male-adaptive byproduct of imitation. I understand their reasoning because they believe that altruism is a defense utilized to protect the family and defend any unwanted violations of family pride. However, as I stated in the previous paragraph, studies have shown that social altruism is highly correlated to survival through devastating events.
However scientists may try to study the phenomenon of Social Altruism I believe that there is a genetic predisposition to do good. I believe that all men are created equally good and through agency they choose to live a selfish, self-centered, altruistic life. I believe there may be genes that can influence Social Altruism and in turn that will also affect social efficacy, but people are free to choose to be acted upon or to act on.
Finally In another study done by Steele et al. (2008), they found that people with higher altruistic behavior were more likely to donate blood because of a sense of duty to help others. As we see, Sampson's work is highly supported by evidence that good communities have a higher lever of social altruism.
REFERENCES
ANDRÉ, J. B., & MORIN, O. O. (2011). Questioning the cultural evolution of altruism. Journal Of Evolutionary Biology, 24(12), 2531-2542
Sampson, R. (2013). Survival of the sociable. New Scientist, 218(2916), 28-29.
Steele, W., Schreiber, G. B., Guiltinan, A., Nass, C., Glynn, S. A., Wright, D. J., & ... Garratty, G. (2008). The role of altruistic behavior, empathetic concern, and social responsibility motivation in blood donation behavior. Transfusion, 48(1), 43-54
I really liked your comment about your belief in agency and how people have a genetic predisposition to do good. I would agree with that. For someone to say they were born a cynical selfish person is absurd to me. There also being people that can use that agency to practice increased social altruistic behavior due to their sense of wanting to make a difference and impact the lives of others. Good blog....not too long and explained well.
ReplyDeleteI aree completely agree with your comments pertaining to the very last sentence of your post stating that altruism can indeed be found in good communities (assuming good you meant high morals, low crime, etc...). I agree that indeed altruism can be found in good communities and that people do have the genetic predisposition to do good. Although, I was hoping when reading your blog to get a little bit more nitty gritty to support your opening thesis about how sociable people's have a higher chance at surviving a disaster of some sort.
ReplyDeleteI became a little confused with the introduction of the evolutionary trait and how it relates to community bonds. I could very well be missing something but I couldn't quite see the tie there.
Lastly, when you visit the idea of character and human's predisposition to do good I once again had to assume a connection to community. Is it because people do go or are born with that "good" instinct, so therefore communities with higher concentrations of these people will make the whole community better?
I enjoyed reading your blog and agreed largely with everything you wrote up, however some of the relationships between your points I had a hard time connecting. I would love to hear the back story on these though. Comment back if you don't mind. Thanks.
I like the idea that you pose about people having a genetic predisposition to do good, but there are also two sides to the nature vs. nurture debate. The problem with many of the communities that were studied in Chicago, and those that tend to have higher crime rates is that while humans are all basically the same as far as DNA is concerned, there appears to be a cycle of crime in many of these neighborhoods that seem to override one's genetic disposition as generation after generation seem to fall into the same patterns of crime. The key to good communities is good individuals, and the sense of community that ties into the idea of altruism.
ReplyDeleteI have been studying a number of communication theories lately and have found that there is a lot of ties between upbringing and characteristics such as altruism and self-efficacy. I would argue that it is the combination of altruism and self-efficacy that leads to collective efficacy. I also know there other mechanisms that play into collective efficacy but the two I listed seem the strongest.
ReplyDeleteSo, I would side with you that our inner self or ego possesses the ability of altruism. However, it's our upbringing that shapes us and how we will act.
Thanks for your post.