Altruistic behavior may seem like a survival disadvantage, but it has played an important role in human society. But how has altruism been maintained?
There are many kinds of people in the world, and you’ll meet many kinds of people in your life. There are people who give everything to others, such as the elderly people who donate their entire fortune by picking up trash, and there are also people who are so selfish that they don’t care about the damage they do to others as long as it’s for their own benefit. Even if these are not extreme examples, there are many selfless and selfish people around us. Sometimes it feels good to be altruistic, but often it feels like you’re losing out. Or maybe it doesn’t just feel like it, it actually hurts.
So, just as short-necked giraffes are at a disadvantage compared to long-necked giraffes, so from an evolutionary point of view, the long-necked giraffes are the ones that are left, so naturally, people with altruistic personalities are at a disadvantage compared to people with selfish personalities, so most of the people that are left should be selfish. However, we can see that there are quite a few altruistic people around us, such as our parents. This raises the question: how did altruistic humans survive the competition with selfish humans? Scientists have come up with several hypotheses to explain this.
One of them is the kin selection hypothesis. This hypothesis aims to explain the above question, explaining that altruistic behavior in humans is caused by the selfish motivations of individual genes. In other words, what appears to be altruistic behavior is actually selfish behavior to spread one’s genes. For example, the most common examples of altruistic personalities we see around us are our parents. Their sacrificial devotion to their children is not purely altruistic, but selfish. Parents are able to pass on their genes to future generations through their children, so it’s a selfish act motivated by genetic self-interest.
This behavior is not only seen in humans, but also in many other animals. First, there’s the altruistic behavior of the meerkat, which lives in burrows and takes turns standing guard. When a predator appears in their habitat, they risk their own lives to send out a loud warning signal to help the group deal with the danger. If she were selfish, she would have gone quiet and hidden herself first. However, this behavior gives them a better chance of spreading their genes, which can be explained by the kin selection hypothesis. It doesn’t stop there. Vampire bats, which are native to Central and South America, feed on the blood of mammals, and sometimes some bats are unsuccessful in their hunts and starve to death. Their fellow bloodsuckers then vomit the blood in their stomachs to feed the starving bats. The life of a honeybee in a colony is also one of sacrifice. Worker bees, the females, have no ability to pass on their genes to the next generation, yet they spend their entire lives caring for the eggs laid by the queen and stinging any intruders to death. When they sting, they sacrifice themselves for the good of their colony, despite the fact that all of their intestines spill out along with the stinger. In addition, impala, an African antelope, scratch each other’s necks, and chimpanzee societies engage in other altruistic cooperative behaviors, such as grooming each other’s fur, sharing food, and forming alliances to help in power struggles.
The kin selection hypothesis is important because it refutes the idea that animals behave at the individual level. Although the hypothesis seems very convincing from the above, there are many things that it does not explain. For example, the kin selection hypothesis is limited in that it does not explain altruistic behavior between people who are not related to each other. To overcome this limitation of the kin selection hypothesis, several hypotheses have emerged, such as the hypothesis that humans generate altruistic behavior through communication, and the hypothesis that altruistic behavior is repeated over and over again as people meet.
In addition, human social structures and cultures have evolved to encourage altruistic behavior. Societies thrive on cooperation and mutual aid because altruistic behavior contributes to the survival and prosperity of the community as a whole, not just the individual. The prevalence of charity, volunteerism, and donations in modern society is evidence that altruistic behaviors are still valued. These behaviors are more than just genetic survival strategies; they are rooted in the complex interactions and cultural values of human society.
Thus, altruistic humans are more than just genetic self-interest; they are the result of a combination of social, cultural, and psychological factors. I hope you’ll take a moment to consider how altruistic humans survive in the face of competition from selfish humans. By understanding the different aspects of altruistic behavior, we can build a better society.
