1st Edition
The Altruism Question Toward A Social-psychological Answer
Are our efforts to help others ever driven solely by altruistic motivation, or is our ultimate goal always some form of self- benefit (egoistic motivation)? This volume reports the development of an empirically-testable theory of altruistic motivation and a series of experiments designed to test that theory. It sets the issue of egoism versus altruism in its larger historical and philosophical context, and brings diverse experiments into a single, integrated argument. Readers will find that this book provides a solid base of information from which questions surrounding the existence of altruistic motivation can be further investigated.
Biography
C. Daniel Batson
"Batson has contributed an exceedingly thorough work on altruism...unusually well-researched...."
—CHOICE"...an excellent presentation of the body of research that Batson has pursued over the past decade....He provides a masterful critical analysis of the motivation for helpful behavior, which includes an interesting review of the early philosophical approaches to the question of altruism."
"It is clear to the reader that the author has a command of the philosophical and psychological literature related to the question of growth and development of the concept of altruism....straightforward, readable, and interesting."
"All too often the problem of whether we are egoists or altruists is addressed by introspection and a priori argumentation. Batson's ULULULULULULULUL book is an important corrective to both these mistakes. It is full of careful conceptual analysis and meticulous experiments. Students of human motivation -- whether they are philosophers, psychologists, biologists, or social scientists -- have much to learn from this important work."
