![]() ![]() Pathological altruism can be conceived as behavior in which attempts to promote the welfare of another, or others, results instead in harm that an external observer would conclude was reasonably foreseeable. Thus, pathologically altruistic behavior can emerge from a mix of accidental, subconscious, or deliberate causes. Various psychological, religious, philosophical, biological, or ideological biases could lead a person or group to misinterpret, selectively discount, or overly emphasize certain aspects of relevant information. One seemingly objective observer’s verdict of antisocial terrorism can be another’s verdict of prosocial altruism, with the words “objective,” “antisocial,” “prosocial,” “terrorism,” and even “altruism” itself varying in meaning depending on the perspective of the putatively objective observer.)Īt the core of pathological altruism are actions or reactions based on incomplete access to, or inability to process, the wide range of information necessary to make prudent decisions that align with cultural values associated with altruistic behavior. (Naturally, there are many objective perspectives. This dynamic of pathological altruism involves subjectively prosocial acts that are objectively antisocial. In other words, people’s own good intentions, coupled with a variety of cognitive biases, can sometimes blind them to the deleterious consequences of their actions. ![]() In a similar fashion, our empathic feelings for others, coupled with a desire to be liked, parochial feelings for our in-group, emotional contagion, motivated reasoning, selective exposure, confirmation bias, discounting, allegiance bias, the Einstellung (“set”) effect, and even an egocentric belief that we know what is best for others, can lead us into powerful and often irrational illusions of helping ( 2). Our eyes can be powerless against visual illusions, with our underlying neural machinery leading us to predictably erroneous conclusions about the size or shape of an object ( 1). Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Concepts of pathological altruism, altruism bias, and guardian systems may help open many new, potentially useful lines of inquiry and provide a framework to begin moving toward a more mature, scientifically informed understanding of altruism and cooperative behavior. Guardian systems and their over arching importance in the evolution of cooperation are also discussed. A basic conceptual approach toward the quantification of altruism bias is presented. Presented here are the mechanistic bases and potential ramifications of pathological altruism, that is, altruism in which attempts to promote the welfare of others instead result in unanticipated harm. This is despite the fact that virtually all forms of altruism are associated with tradeoffs-some of enormous importance and sensitivity-and notwithstanding that examples of pathologies of altruism abound. However, the potential hurtful aspects of altruism have gone largely unrecognized in scientific inquiry. ![]() The profound benefits of altruism in modern society are self-evident. ![]()
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