Altruistic Attitudes Research Articles

Altruism, an attitude of unselfish concern for others - an analytical cross sectional study among the Medical and Engineering students in Bangalore.

Introduction:Altruism is disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. Intentional and voluntary actions that aim to enhance the welfare of another person in the absence of any external reward. With the background of increasing mistrust between the medical profession, media, and the public and increasing incidents of violence against doctors in India, there is a growing feeling that altruism in medicine, if not dying is at least declining.Aim and Objective:To assess altruistic attitudes among Medical and Engineering students in a Medical and Engineering College in Bangalore and to determine the factors influencing altruistic behavior among these students.Methodology:An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 medical and 200 engineering students studying in medical and engineering college, respectively. The survey contained a structured pre-validated questionnaire containing general information and the Altruism personality scale items for measuring altruistic tendency in students.Result:Among the participants from both the backgrounds doing simple altruistic acts, were more frequent than risk taking altruistic acts. Altruism deceases with increasing years of study in medical college.Conclusion:Good Medicine stands on the basis of interactions between people. Few changes in the existing curriculum for medical professionalism which should emphasize on skills such as empathy towards patients, communication, good doctor patient relationship, emotional intelligence and professional ethics and values is desired. Doing this study in a medical and engineering college setting would introduce the topic of altruism among the students and give them a chance to self-analyze their altruistic nature and bring about positive changes towards human altruism.

Altruistic and egoistic behaviors in interpersonal interactions

Introduction. Utopian or destructive society? Is it better to be an egoist or an altruist in a group and which factors does it depend on? Aim. Difficulty in making an unambiguous assessment of social interactions was the reason for conducting a few studies which aimed at identifying factors shaping altruistic and selfish behaviors. Due to the scope of the studies, percentage results relate only to selected social communities. Materials and methods. The first study aimed at evaluating altruistic behaviors of an individual and of a group and was focused on an analysis of interpersonal interactions between a person who needed help (not calling for it) and a bystander observing the incident. The second experiment evaluated psychologization of confidence and focused on the assessment of interpersonal relations of two participants. The last, third study aimed at evaluating altruistic attitude towards various social relations. Results. Conducted studies show that there are a lot of factors which determine conscious (financial benefits, empathy) and unconscious (difficulty in interpreting the incident, inadequate intervention, unwillingness to feel responsible for own behavior) development of altruistic and egoistic behaviors in interpersonal interactions.

Egoism and cooperation in economic development - a historical approach

Inter-human cooperation has existed since the Paleolithic era, but its character has changed over time. Initially, it was instinctive, later forced, but nowadays it is voluntary. Already in the 18th century, Adam Smith wrote that society could not exist without cooperation. Human civilization was built by cooperating specialists supported by ever newer technologies. The subject of the article is the role of egoism and cooperation in human economic development throughout history. The research method used was a review of the literature of authors from various historical epochs, starting from antiquity and the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, the first, second and third industrial revolution, up to the present day. The conducted research has shown that cooperation affects relationships between people and helps suppress the internal egoism of man, about which St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Hume, Malthus and even Charles Darwin wrote. The predominance of selfish or altruistic attitudes inevitably affected the development and collapse of many countries and even civilizations.

Loving Others: The Impact of Compassionate Love on Later-Life Psychological Well-Being

Existing scholarship in social gerontology has surprisingly paid little attention to broader loving emotions, such as compassionate and altruistic love, as potentially meaningful mechanisms for improving later life psychological well-being. This study examined the influence of feeling love toward other persons and experiencing love from others on later life psychological well-being. We conducted a 3-wave longitudinal study of a representative sample of 340 ethnically heterogeneous community dwelling older residents of Miami, Florida. The increase in feeling of being loved (β=-1.53, p<0.001) and love for others (β=-1.43, p<0.001) led to decline in odds of reporting greater level of depressive symptoms over time. The odds of reporting higher level of positive affect were significantly greater for older adults who reported feeling loved by others (β=1.16, p<0.001) and expressed love for other people (β=1.18, p<0.01). Older adults who felt loved had 0.92-point lower ordered log odds of reporting higher negative affect than those who reported lower level of love. The impact of compassionate love on depressive symptoms and negative affect remained statistically significant even after adjustment for altruistic attitudes and emotional support. The influence of loving emotions on positive affect was, however, explained by altruistic attitudes and emotional support. Our findings underscore the powerful influence of both receiving and giving love for the maintenance of later life psychological well-being. We offer support for the expectation that love is a significant force in the lives of older adults that transcends intimate relationships.

Altruistic Attitudes Among Older Adults: Examining Construct Validity and Measurement Invariance of a New Scale.

Background and ObjectivesScholarly research has established the role of altruism in facilitating human cooperation and prosocial behaviors and highlighted its contribution to psychological well-being. Given the health significance of altruistic attitudes and orientations, we developed a valid and reliable measure of this construct that is suitable for use with older adults.Research Design and MethodsBased on data from a long-term panel study on adaptation to frailty among older adults (n = 366; mean age = 86 years), we used confirmatory factor analysis to perform construct validation of a five-item Elderly Care Research Center Altruism Scale among older adults (e.g., “Seeing others prosper makes me happy”). Moreover, we examined the invariance of the scale’s factor structure across time and gender using nested models.ResultsComposite reliability (coefficient omega = 0.78), factor loadings (>0.45 with eigenvalue = 2.84) from exploratory factor analysis, and model fit indices (e.g., comparative fit index = 0.999) from confirmatory factor analysis suggest a single factor, supporting a unidimensional reliable construct of altruistic orientation at baseline. The results provided support for configural, metric, and scalar invariance across time. Findings pertaining to measurement invariance across gender confirmed full configural invariance but only offered support for partial metric, scalar, and residual invariance at baseline. Strong correlations among the altruism scale, salient personality traits, psychological well-being, religiosity, and meaning in life help establish construct validity.Discussion and ImplicationsThe availability of a reliable and valid measure of altruistic attitudes enables a comprehensive evaluation of altruism’s influence on later-life health and well-being.

Loving Others: The Impact of Compassionate Love on Later-Life Psychological Well-being.

Existing scholarship in social gerontology has paid relatively little attention to broader loving emotions, such as compassionate and altruistic love, as potentially meaningful mechanisms for improving later-life psychological well-being outside a family framework. Drawing from a 3-wave longitudinal survey of community-dwelling older residents (n = 334) of Miami, Florida, we utilized generalized estimating equation models to examine the influence of changes in compassionate love (i.e., feeling love toward other persons and experiencing love from others) on depressive symptoms over time. We also explored cross-sectional relationship between compassionate love and positive and negative affects. An increase in the feeling of being loved (β = -0.77, p < .001) and feeling love for others (β = -0.78, p < .001) led to a decline in odds of reporting greater levels of depressive symptoms over time. The odds of reporting higher level of positive affect were significantly greater for older adults who reported feeling loved by others (β = .63, p < .001) and expressed love for other people (β = 0.43, p < .05). Older adults who felt loved and expressed love for other people, respectively, had 0.71 and 0.54-point lower ordered log odds of reporting higher negative affect than those who reported lower levels of love. The statistically significant impact of feeling loved on all well-being outcomes was maintained even after adjustment for altruistic attitudes and emotional support. Except for depressive symptoms, such adjustments explained the positive influence of love for others on well-being outcomes. Our findings underscore the powerful influence of both receiving and giving loving emotions for the maintenance of later-life psychological well-being.

Positive attitudes and negative expectations in lonely individuals

Loneliness is a central predictor of depression and major factor of all-cause mortality. Loneliness is supposed to be a warning signal prompting individuals to seek out social connections. However, lonely individuals seem to be less likely to engage in prosocial activities and are overall more socially withdrawn. Hence, it is yet unclear whether and how loneliness affects an individual’s social motivations. Prosocial attitudes and expectations about social interactions of lonely individuals might shed light on whether lonely individuals are more prone to connect or withdraw from social activities. Here, results from a large dataset (~ 15,500 individuals) provide evidence for both. In particular, lonely individuals indicate stronger altruistic attitudes, suggesting a positive tendency to build and maintain social bonds. However, they also report more negative expectations about others, as they believe their social partners be less fair and trustworthy, suggesting less favorable evaluations of social interactions. By highlighting an important link between loneliness, prosocial attitudes and social expectations, this work stresses the role of loneliness in social motivations, points to potential consequences for social behaviors, and proposes a mechanism for the paradoxical effects of loneliness on an individual’s social attitudes and expectations, with important implications for future basic and clinical research, as well as education, economics and public policy.

Dangerous shortage of blood banks as an indirect effect of SARS-CoV-2: An obstetrics perspective.

ObjectiveTo describe the impact of the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic on the frequency of blood donation (BD) in a Latin American hospital and how the social isolation policy implemented during the pandemic jeopardizes the quality of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) care due to shortages at blood banks (BB).MethodsA retrospective, descriptive study was conducted, lasting for 31 months, including the start of the pandemic. Frequency of BD and the use of obstetric emergency services was observed.ResultsA direct relationship was observed between the pandemic and a decrease in BD. Although emergency obstetric visits decreased, the frequency of deliveries and cases of PPH remained unchanged. After applying strategies to promote voluntary BD, a very slight increase was observed in the frequency of BD, with a negative indicator persisting between donation and blood demand.ConclusionThe SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic has led to shortages at BBs. In this context, typical measures to encourage an altruistic attitude toward BD have not had a significant impact. As causes of PPH continue, quality of care may be affected by the current situation at BBs. Governments and institutions must implement new strategies to motivate BD.

Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: a systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response.

Four billion people worldwide have experienced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confinement. Such unprecedented extent of mobility restriction to curb the COVID-19 pandemic may have profound impacts on how individuals live, travel and retain well-being. This systematic review aims to identify (i) the social consequences of mass quarantine—community-wide movement restrictions—during previous and current infectious disease outbreaks and (ii) recommended strategies to mitigate the negative social implications of COVID-19 lockdowns. Considering social determinants of health, we conducted a systematic review by searching five databases (Ovid-MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and the World Health Organization COVID-19 database) for publications from inception to 9 April 2020. No limitation was set on language, location or study type. Studies that (i) contained peer-reviewed original empirical evidence and (ii) focussed on non-epidemiological implications of mass quarantine were included. We thematically synthesized and reported data due to heterogeneous disease and country context. Of 3067 publications found, 15 original peer-reviewed articles were selected for full-text extraction. Psychological distress, heightened communication inequalities, food insecurity, economic challenges, diminished access to health care, alternative delivery of education and gender-based violence were identified as negative social consequences of community-based quarantine in six infectious disease epidemics, including the current COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, altruistic attitudes were identified as a positive consequence during previous quarantines. Diverse psychological and social consequences of mass quarantine in previous and current epidemics were evident, but individual country policies had been highly varied in how well they addressed the needs of affected individuals, especially those who are socially marginalized. Policymakers should balance the pros and cons of movement restrictions, facilitate multisectoral action to tackle social inequalities, provide clear and coherent guidance to the public and undertake time-bound policy evaluations to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and to establish preparedness strategies for future epidemics.

Willingness and psychological preparedness to attend to COVID-19 patients among healthcare workers in a tertiary care private hospital in Kerala - A mixed method study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has made an unprecedented psychological impact on healthcare workers. The objective of this study was to appraise the willingness, attitudes and psychological preparedness of the frontline healthcare workers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: This was a mixed-method study combining a web-based cross-sectional survey, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. The cross-sectional survey covered 202 healthcare workers, and the qualitative assessment was done on 16 frontline healthcare workers. Results: The willingness to respond to the pandemic was found to be significantly higher among doctors and nurses compared to medical interns. Among demographic factors increasing age and female gender were the key factors in determining willingness and positive emotional response. While anxiety was the most common emotional response, the fear of infecting family members was found to be the most common risk perceived in qualitative analysis. The study highlights the altruistic attitude of frontline health workers to be the most important contributing factor for psychological preparedness. Conclusion: This study outlines the fact that willingness to respond in a pandemic is an innate response in healthcare workers. Considering the risks, workload and socioeconomic stressors, proactive psychosocial support should be given to frontline healthcare workers by the institutions, governments, and society.

Moral identity: A mediation model of moral disengagement and altruistic attitude

We explored the relationships between college students' moral disengagement, moral identity, and altruistic attitude. Questionnaires assessing altruistic attitude, moral disengagement, moral identity, and real-life helping scenarios were used to survey 556 college students, of whom 130 were subsequently randomly selected to participate in an altruistic behavior experiment. Data were paired to verify consistency between altruistic behavior and attitude. The results show that moral disengagement was significantly negatively correlated with moral identity and altruistic attitude. Further, moral identity was a partial mediator of the relationship between moral disengagement and altruistic behavior, but not that between altruistic behavior and altruistic attitude. Because participants with a lower moral identity and less altruistic attitude had higher moral disengagement scores, we can conclude that the effect of diffusion of responsibility does exist.

Blood Type and Blood Donation Behaviors: An Empirical Test of Pure Altruism Theory

We empirically investigated how voluntary helping behavior is influenced by the number of its potential recipients by using a nationwide survey in Japan (N = 1,333) and examining the relationship between blood type and blood donation behavior. It is generally known in Japan that type O blood can be medically transfused to individuals of all blood groups; therefore, the potential transfusion recipients’ number of the type O blood is the largest among the four blood groups. Our empirical analysis revealed that people with type O blood were more likely to have donated blood in the past than those with the other blood types. This association was stronger in a subsample of individuals who had knowledge relating to the above-mentioned widespread utility of type O blood. In addition, our empirical analysis arrested the concern that potential blood-type differences in altruistic attitudes might explain their differences in blood donation behavior, by confirming that type O blood was not significantly related to other altruistic behaviors (i.e., registration for bone-marrow donation, intention to donate organs, and making monetary donations) or attitudes (i.e., general trust, altruism, reciprocity, and agreeableness). After conducting further analyses, we concluded that the vast number of potential recipients of type O blood causes different patterns of Japanese people’s blood donation behavior across the four blood groups. This study added to the literature the real-world evidence concerning how having many potential recipients affect people’s behavior of providing common goods..

МНИМЫЕ ЦЕННОСТИ СУИЦИДА

The problem of suicide is investigated, namely, different interpretations of suicide in philosophy and psychology are compared. Three different axiological positions of the individual that can become life orientations to suicide are presented. This is an egoistic attitude "from people", expressed in indifference; an altruistic attitude "to people", expressed in self-abasement of a person; an anomic attitude "against people", expressed in aggression. The value of death is presented as an imaginary alternative to life, as an antipode and negation of its meaning, which can become a goal. The hermeneutical method of interpretation of texts is applied. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the illusory nature of value orientations on suicide.

THE SHADOWS OF SELFDESTRUCTION AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

The problem of suicide is investigated, namely, different interpretations of suicide in philosophy and psychology are compared. Three different axiological positions of the individual that can become life orientations to suicide are presented. This is an egoistic attitude "from people", expressed in indifference; an altruistic attitude "to people", expressed in self-abasement of a person; an anomic attitude "against people", expressed in aggression. The value of death is presented as an imaginary alternative to life, as an antipode and negation of its meaning, which can become a goal. The hermeneutical method of interpretation of texts is applied. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the illusory nature of value orientations on suicide.

Perceptions of HIV Virologic Control Strategies Among Younger and Older Age Groups of People Living with HIV in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Two HIV virologic control advances are in various stages of development, including long-acting antiretroviral therapy (ART) formulations and strategies aimed at sustained ART-free HIV control. Perceptions of risks and benefits toward HIV virologic control strategies may be different based on an individual's age due to differing experiences of the impacts of the domestic HIV epidemic, altruistic attitudes toward research participation, and general levels of engagement in health care. We examined preferences of HIV virologic control strategies by age groups. In 2018, we conducted a nationwide, online cross-sectional survey to examine differences in HIV virologic control strategies among a sample of people living with HIV who were <50 and ≥50 years of age. From a total of 281 participants, 3 findings were noteworthy: (1) Participants <50 years of age were more likely to be demotivated by perceived social risks (e.g., stigma, discrimination, HIV disclosure, and fear of transmitting HIV during a treatment interruption), compared with those ≥50 years; (2) participants ≥50 years of age were more motivated by altruistic notions compared with those <50 years; and (3) we noted greater desirability of longer long-acting ART and new HIV cure-related strategies among participants <50 years versus those ≥50 years. Our analysis provides a deeper understanding of differences in perceptions among various age groups regarding desirable future ART characteristics, and motivations and barriers to participating in HIV cure-related strategies. Our findings can help inform community engagement and education, and assist researchers in tailoring study design and recruitment efforts to major age groups.

Keefektifan Teknik Cinema Therapy untuk Meningkatkan Sikap Altruistik Siswa Kelas VIII DI SMPN 1 Gondanglegi Kabupaten Malang

Altruism is a voluntary action taken by a person or group of people to help others without expecting anything in return. This study aims to test the Effectiveness of Cinema Therapy Techniques to Improve the Altruistic Attitudes of SMPN 1 Gondanglegi Students in Malang Regency. This research is an experimental study with a one-group pretest-posttest village design and uses a Likert scale instrument. The sample of this study is junior high school students who have low altruistic attitude criteria by choosing through quota sampling technique where students who meet only the criteria will be selected, Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test data analysis, research showing the results of sig. (2-tailed) is 0.012 which indicates that 0.012 &lt;0.05, which means that cinema therapy technique is effective to improve the altruistic attitude of VIII grade students of SMP N 1 Gondanglegi Malang Regency which is subjected to truth and can be accepted at a significant level of 5%.

Factores asociados a una actitud desfavorable frente a la donación de órganos en estudiantes de la facultad de medicina de una universidad de Lambayeque

Introducción: En nuestro país la donación de órganos tiene una de las tasas más baja a nivel mundial, muchos factores intervienen para que este índice pueda incrementarse, ya que existe una alta demanda de pacientes que requieren de la actitud altruista tanto por las personas potenciales donantes como de sus familiares. Objetivo: determinar los factores asociados a una actitud desfavorable frente a la donación de órganos en estudiantes de la facultad de medicina de la Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo en el año 2015. Material y métodos: estudio observacional analítico de corte transversal ejecutado en 377 estudiantes de la facultad de medicina de la USAT, a quienes se les aplico un instrumento de recolección de datos validado para medir la actitud desfavorable hacia la donación de órganos, con un 0,77 de confiabilidad según el alfa de Crombach y de 0,5 de validez según la prueba de KMO Resultados: Solo 138 estudiantes (36,6%) manifestaron estar de acuerdo con la donación de órganos y tener una actitud favorable mientras que 239 (63,4%) se encontró una actitud desfavorable, solo 89 participantes (23,6%) mencionaron estar de acuerdo con que solamente deberían donar órganos las personas que están cerca de la muerte y 323 (85,6%) afirmaron que la calidad de vida de las personas mejoraría al recibir un órgano Conclusiones: Se estimó una elevada frecuencia de actitud desfavorable frente a la donación de órganos en estudiantes de la Facultad de Medicina en una Universidad de Lambayeque en el 2015.

How Spiritual Leadership Affects Job Satisfaction and Workplace Deviant Behavior (Study at the Regional Secretariat of the City of Palangkaraya)

Examining the relationship of spiritual leadership to job satisfaction and workplace deviant behavior. This research was survey research. The population was the employee of the government of the city of Palangkaraya, Indonesia with its characteristics as civil servants (PNS) in all regional work units (SKPD) within the secretariat of the regional government of the city of Palangkaraya. The sampling technique used in this study was the stratified random sampling technique. The method and data analysis used SEM. This research contributed to the development of science, especially spiritual leadership. The application of spiritual leadership at the regional government secretariat of the city of Palangkaraya has the effect of creating a spiritual work climate where a leader constantly develops and practices spiritual values in his organization, especially altruistic attitudes.

Odysseus – Trickster and the Issue of the Compatibility of the Image of the Hero with Its Function in the Traditions of the Oral Epic

In the Greek epic tradition associated with the Trojan cycle, the protagonists are played by Achilles and Odysseus, two heroes with contrasting characteristics. The Homeric poems endeavor to approximate the character of Odysseus to Achilles. They cannot, however, break with his traditional image in which he represents the trickster type. Both preservation of the traditional image and its reinterpretation is typical of the oral tradition. Comparison with other traditions of the oral epic reveals a connection between the trickster character and the antagonist of the hero-protagonist. Both polarized characters represent two types of behavior assessed by the listening audience in terms of their usefulness for the survival of the community. In his readiness for sacrifice, the hero represents an altruistic attitude, positively valorized as moral behavior. The trickster’s egoistic behavior moves away from moral principles, but it can also ultimately bring benefit to the whole community. Similarly to the behavior of the trickster-antagonist, that of the hero-protagonist is also ambivalent, as it brings harm to the community, which –though temporary – often takes on the dimension of a disaster.

Methodology for measuring altruistic attitudes

Methodology for measuring altruistic attitudes