Given the relatively limited empirical evidence and the mixed picture painted by the empirical evidence that does exist (suggesting that altruism may have both positive and negative implications for the principal-agent relationship), important questions remain about the effects of
altruistic behavior on agency costs in the family firm.
Whether altruism has a biological basis, is socially learned, or is a cognitive schema that produces internalized beliefs that foster
altruistic behaviors is a fascinating topic for consideration.
(15.) Jerzy Karylowski, Two Types of
Altruistic Behavior: Doing Good to Feel Good or to Make The Other Feel Good, in COOPERATION AND HELPING BEHAVIOR: THEORIES AND RESEARCH 397, 410 (Valerian J.
Therefore, schools that encourage both extracurricular participation and that focus on preparation for 4-year colleges increase the likelihood that students will engage in
altruistic behaviors. Although the school-level coefficients for Catholic students are not significant, they are similar in magnitude to those seen for the full sample.
Psychological study of altruism suggests that, although there may be evolutionary benefit derived from some types of
altruistic behavior, altruism is primarily learned (Rushton, 1983).
As an introduction to this literature, I would like to focus on a representative subset of the evidence on
altruistic behavior that I believe is both especially compelling and especially useful.
So it's not clear who's going to know about
altruistic behavior or how they're going to get rewarded for it.
Considering that natural selection might lead to the acquisition of behavior that is not competitive (for example, cooperative or
altruistic behavior) may be subtle, but it is also controversial because human identity is perceived as a purely biological fact.
We find that the level of
altruistic behavior in children is similar to that of adults but that repetition has a different effect.
In addition to supporting Christian rescuers, the JFR conducts an education program that uses the stories of the rescuers to educate teachers and their students about the Holocaust, its relevance for these times, and the significance of
altruistic behavior for our society.
Altruistic behavior would result in greater work effort by the assisting employee vis-avis the receiving employee, while holding rewards (i.e., gainsharing bonus) equal for both employees.
Only by combining a theory of motivating reasons with a theory of normative reasons can we arrive at a complete theory of rational,
altruistic behavior that incorporates both justification (objectivist or subjectivist) and explanation (externalist or internalist).
In the aggregate, he finds, the level of
altruistic behavior of children is similar to that of adults.
Darwin, always acutely aware of potential flaws in his theory of natural selection, realized that
altruistic behavior presented a "special difficulty." Why should the honey bee work tirelessly for the good of the colony and sacrifice her own ability to reproduce in the process?
For on Monroe's account it is only the most extraordinary cases (the rescuers) that clearly meet her definition of
altruistic behavior. So, from the self-interest view, an analyst could allow, and indeed even insist, that such exceptional cases arise but set them aside as precisely so rare and special that, however admirable, they can be treated as unimportant for social theory.