As an undergraduate at CSU- Fullerton, I worked as a teacher\u2019s assistant for Deanna Kuhn in her developmental and experimental psychology classes.<\/p>\n
The labs she directed centered on one theme: altruism. Like many students, I found myself asking:<\/p>\n
What\u00a0exactly is altruism?<\/p>\n
According to Webster\u2019s Dictionary, altruism is the unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.<\/p>\n
Over the years, researchers have proposed several explanations for why we help others. Here are the top three.<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0The evolutionary model suggests that altruism promotes the survival of humanity. Helping others strengthens the group and increases the chances that our species will thrive. Supporting this idea, neuroscience shows that the prefrontal cortex\u2014the part of the brain most developed in humans\u2014is highly active when we think or behave socially.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0The egoistic model proposes that we help others because doing so increases our self-esteem and helps us avoid stress or guilt. In this view, altruism benefits the helper as much as the recipient.<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0The empathy model suggests that when we put ourselves in another person\u2019s \u201cshoes,\u201d we are moved to help because we genuinely feel their distress (Huffman, Sanderson, &\u00a0 Kowdell, 2025).<\/p>\n
A tragic real-life case that shaped our understanding of altruism occurred in 1964 with the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City. Reports indicated that numerous witnesses heard or saw parts of the attack, yet no one intervened immediately.<\/p>\n
The case prompted a national conversation on safety and helped spark the creation of the 911 emergency system. In 1968, psychologists Bibb Latan\u00e9 and John Darley studied the incident and conducted experiments to understand why people sometimes fail to help. They identified what is now called the bystander effect: the greater the number of people present, the less likely any one person is to feel responsible for helping. Responsibility becomes diffused among the group.<\/p>\n
Their research identified five essential steps that must take place before a bystander intervenes in an emergency. A bystander must:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0Notice the situation
2)\u00a0Interpret it as an emergency
3)\u00a0Accept personal responsibility
4)\u00a0Know how to help
5)\u00a0Decide to\u00a0take action<\/p>\n
If even one step breaks down, help may never come.<\/p>\n
Today, we face countless situations that call for courage and compassion.
Would you intervene if someone\u00a0were being detained or attacked?
Would you donate an organ to a stranger? Join a protest?
Hide a family in danger, as some did during the Holocaust?
Contribute money to support a cause you believe in?
How far are we willing to go?<\/p>\n
Some people help quietly, without reward or recognition. They act simply because it is right. To me, that is true altruism. Fear, however, can hold us back.<\/p>\n
As President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously reminded us, \u201cThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the question is not whether altruism exists, but whether we will choose it when the moment comes.<\/p>\n
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