Life is not chess: Towards a dynamic theory on altruism

IF 1 3区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Culture & Psychology Pub Date : 2020-09-09 DOI:10.1177/1354067X20957557

Zarak Ahmed

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Abstract

Economic theory propagates a model of the human being commonly known as homoeconomicus; an individual with a rational orientation directed towards maximizing his/her preferences. However, our everyday lives involve many altruistic acts. These can range from small gestures of kindness such as holding a door open for another person, to heroic feats such as risking one's life to save a child from drowning. During our lives we also meet certain people that instantly induce our kindness. Our nicety in these moments is not based on a pursuit to optimize our material desires. Rather, we allow our feelings and intuitions to guide the course of our actions. How do we reconcile these experiences against the economic conception of human nature as inherently selfish? Addressing this contradiction, the paper will deconstruct the economic view and repositioning it as the product of an epistemological stance that distorts our view of altruism. An alternative model on altruism will then be developed by merging anthropological theories on value with insights from cultural psychology and grounded cognition. Through this process, a passage will be shown from static and universalizing perspective towards an emergent and dynamic theory on altruism.

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生活不是国际象棋：走向利他主义的动态理论

经济理论传播了一种人类模型，通常被称为经济人；一个具有理性取向的个人，旨在最大限度地提高他/她的偏好。然而，我们的日常生活涉及许多无私的行为。这些可以是为他人开门等小小的善意姿态，也可以是冒着生命危险救溺水儿童等英雄壮举。在我们的生活中，我们也会遇到一些人，这些人会立刻引起我们的善意。我们在这些时刻的美好并不是建立在追求物质欲望最优化的基础上的。相反，我们允许我们的感觉和直觉来指导我们的行动。我们如何将这些经历与人性本质上自私的经济概念相调和？针对这一矛盾，本文将解构经济学观点，并将其重新定位为扭曲我们利他主义观点的认识论立场的产物。然后，通过将人类学的价值理论与文化心理学和基础认知的见解相结合，将发展出另一种利他主义模型。在这个过程中，我们将从静态和普遍性的角度来展示一段关于利他主义的新兴和动态理论。

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来源期刊

Culture & Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

2.40

自引率

18.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Culture & Psychology addresses the centrality of culture necessary for a basic understanding of the psychology of human beings: their identity, social conduct, intra- and intersubjective experiences, emotions and semiotic creativity. By drawing on diverse theoretical backgrounds, the editorial aim is to provide an international and interdisciplinary forum for scholarly investigations and discussions that will advance our basic knowledge of the self in its historical and cultural contexts. The orientation of the journal is towards formulating new conceptualizations of culture in psychology, together with theoretically relevant empirical investigations.