We Are Not Alone We Are Social Creatures
Social Human Altruism
Have you ever met someone who is very nice even looks like “ibu peri”? Yes, she always happily helps others, shares things, even prioritizes the affairs of others like a fairy. As I write this, I also imagine a friend of mine in class who is always willing to help anyone who needs his help, seeing his helpful behavior, it made me remember one of the terms in psychology that addresses this helpful behavior, Altruism.
Have you ever heard that term? In some articles altruism is referred to as opposed to the word selfish. Really so? Selfishness as we know it is the nature of a person who is more selfish and does not care about his surroundings, then what is altruism? Is altruism a trait of a person who is more concerned with others than himself? And why do people do that? Let's discuss it together.
What is Altruism?
Altruism is a modern term of the word Empathy, first coined by the philosopher Auguste Comte. The word is derived from the French word Autrui or which in Latin is called Alteri which has the meaning of others. Yep! From this it can be seen that this word describes others as the main focus. Where altruism means a behavior that is done to improve the welfare of others, this behavior is reinforced by the desire and determination possessed to achieve the goal of welfare of others. Of course the question for us, why are they more concerned with others than themselves? What do they get from this behavior? What we do know is that people who have pure altruistic behavior help others because of the desire to help and not because they feel that it is a duty, he said, or for some reason even altruism is also known as behavior that is done selflessly or without expecting certain rewards.
Altruism can be a momentary state of mind, or even this behavior can grow into a person's way or value of life. Altruism is a kind-hearted state of mind and is driven by feelings of concern for others. Concern for the welfare of others, in certain cases, is found that this behavior can endanger the well-being and health of oneself. Of course we know that excessive things will certainly not have a good impact on us, as well as excessive altruism behavior. Why is it that one person is so concerned with others than himself?
Why does someone always do good?
To answer the question, we will discuss it through several aspects that make a person can do good to others and even number his duakan himself.
Brain Response
It turns out, when someone helps others or does altruistic behavior, our brain will give a response that makes us feel happy, because this behavior greatly affects our affections. For this reason, the areas of the brain that are active when helping others are the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is responsible for regulating the emotions possessed by humans. When someone does altruistic behavior, this part of the brain will elicit a feeling of euphoria or called helper’s high and activate the reward center in the brain. This is supported by research that has been done by neurobiologists who found that when someone behaves altruism will make the pleasure center in the brain become active. This brain response makes them feel happy up to “addictive” when helping others.
A study conducted at Stanford University showed that interactions and relationships with others have a great influence on altruistic behavior. It turns out that this is something that has been widely debated by researchers, especially psychologists, they question whether a person can be born with a tendency to help others, but a study found that social environments have a major influence on altruistic behavior in children. Children will observe the act of helping and imitating it. Imitating altruistic behavior can encourage someone to do the same thing especially in children who are very easy to imitate the behavior of others
Social Norms
One of the important things that can also affect the emergence of altruistic behavior in a person is the norms, rules, and expectations of the surrounding community. Humans will tend to feel bad, or feel “ must” help others if the person has done something for him, this is an example of a reciprocal norm. This feeling that turns out can cause a desire to help others. But you also need to realize that altruism is a behavior that is done without strings attached or expecting something, if it is done because of bad feelings, you can try watching the video below
Cognitively Rewards
Previously it was mentioned that altruism is a behavior of helping others without reward or without expecting anything. But there is such a thing as cognitive rewards. This reward is our view of ourselves after helping others. We will see ourselves as good and empathetic, and of course this will give a comfortable feeling for ourselves. This reward is also related to the brain responses that arise when we help others.
Altruism is closely related to something that is happening a lot today around us, which is difficult to say “not” or commonly known people pleaser. Are you also among those who always say “ya” to others? Maybe when reading this article you also imagine yourself always trying to help others, or who is always willing when there are friends who ask you for something.
However, is what you do really purely because you want to help and make you feel comfortable when doing it? Or maybe you just feel bad, afraid of being shunned, afraid of not being liked, want recognition, so when doing it makes you feel uncomfortable? You need to realize first this, whether what you do is really altruistic behavior or just because you are a people pleaser.
Of course, being a people pleaser is not a good thing for you, helpful behavior that should provide a sense of comfort, happiness, even making you feel helpless can even affect mental health. So, first recognize what you really feel, there is nothing wrong when we always want to help others or do good to the people around us, he said, but you still have to pay attention to yourself as well, lest we even do no good to ourselves.
