Beneficial Effect of Altruism on Well-Being Among Chinese College Students: The Role of Self-Esteem and Family Socioeconomic Status

ABSTRACT

The motivation for voluntary social service has been identified as altruism. This study aimed to establish the relationship between altruism and well-being in Chinese college students at the undergraduate level. To better understand altruism, two groups were selected, one that used self-reporting and another related to the perception of peers. Self-reported altruism and self-reported decisions to help in real-life situations were measured in the first sample (N₁ = 525); peer-rated altruism was measured in the second sample (N₂ = 189). The results showed (when socially desirable responding was controlled) (1) self-reported altruism and self-reported decisions to help exerted significant direct effects on well-being, while peer-rated altruism did not; (2) self-esteem mediated the effects of self-reported altruism, self-reported decisions to help, and peer-rated altruism on well-being; (3) family socioeconomic status moderated the effects of self-reported altruism on well-being via self-esteem; college students with low family socioeconomic status were more likely to reap benefits from altruism. These findings confirm the emotion-elevating effects of altruism in collectivistic societies like China, which may encourage more people to engage in voluntary social service. Future research should adopt longitudinal or experimental designs with a more nationally representative sample to better confirm these findings.     

Altruism and Volunteerism: The perceptions of altruism in four disciplines and their impact on the study of volunteerism

Although volunteering is the most organized and formal manner of altruism, the two subjects are rarely connected in literature. In this article reviewed is the egocentric approach that is found in four social disciplines: psychology, sociology, economics and socio-biology (evolutionism), and the way that studies on altruism are based on Utilitarian philosophy and on the homo economicus perception of man. All of the above have influenced the study of volunteerism: the research questions, the study areas, and the conclusions on the essence of volunteering. We then review a different approach based on Deontological philosophy: the alter-centric approach, already influencing the study of altruism. New directions of approaching and studying volunteerism are suggested.     

How We Can Promote Behavior That Serves All of Us in the Future

The health and vitality of relationships, groups, and society at large is strongly challenged by social dilemmas or conflicts between short-term self-interest and long-term collective interest. Pollution, depletion of natural resources, and intergroup conflict can be characterized as examples of urgent social dilemmas. This article advances a conceptual framework in which we analyze social dilemmas in terms of social and temporal concerns relevant to the social (individual vs. collective) and temporal (short-term vs. long-term) conflicts underlying social dilemmas. We discuss the plasticity of social orientations (altruism, cooperation, egalitarianism, individualism, competition, aggression) and temporal orientations (short-term orientation, future orientation), and illustrate their "logical effects" and "paradoxical effects" on behavior that supports collectively desired outcomes. This analysis enables us to suggest a set of novel recommendations for policy and intervention to help solve various social dilemmas in contemporary society.     

Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan

Chuang JCC. Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan This article examines whether public transfers ‘crowd out’ private inter‐household transfers in Taiwan, focusing on two old age social allowance schemes (old age allowance and old age farmer allowance) during the 2002–2008 period. This study used a data set from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan. Empirical evidence suggests that Taiwanese donors are strongly motivated by altruism, and that the increase of public transfers will crowd out private transfers, and vice versa. Besides, altruism is more likely to dominate among poorer elderly recipients, whereas the exchange motive would dominate among richer recipients. Thus, the response of Taiwanese donors is likely to neutralise the distributional impact of public transfers. Finally, the elderly are not a homogenous group, and the effect of public transfers on private transfers varies significantly by household characteristics, in particular depending on age, marital status and living arrangements.     

Why Do They Help People with AIDS/HIV Online? Altruistic Motivation and Moral Identity

Abstract

With the help of information and communication technologies, people can enjoy online social services, especially some stigmatized groups. In China, it is popular for AIDS patients to seek help online since the anonymity of cyberspace can protect people from stigmas and mocking evaluations. This article conducts a content analysis on 216 volunteers’ applications in an AIDS forum and measures their online helping behavior after application to explore what motivates volunteers to help AIDS patients online, how it affects them, and why the moral implication attached to AIDS fails to prevent them. The author indicates that helping behavior may be inspired by varied motivation from altruism to egoism, including kindness, values, sympathy, reward, atonement and benefit. Among them, the closer to altruism the motivation is, the more likely it is to be mentioned, while the “reward” motivation has the most significant effect. This article then examines volunteers’ moral identity of AIDS, arguing that the moral identity of humanitarianism can counteract the moral criticism of high-risk behavior related to AIDS. Future research in this area should examine the relationship between motivation and moral identity, the change in different phases, and compare different helping situations to encourage more forms of social services and supportive behavior.     

Perfect and total altruism across the generations

The traditional formulation of the altruism model has altruistic terms that relate solely to other parties’ felicities from consumption. But if those others are altruistic as well, their altruism benefits are being neglected. Total altruism takes the total utilities of others, rather than their mere felicities, as the basis for altruistic valuations. We assess total altruism in an intergenerational world. Perfect altruism, a concept due to Ramsey (Econ. J. 38(152):543–559, 1928), requires that a generation value itself relative to its successor as it would any two consecutive generations. Total altruism and perfect altruism prove to be incompatible concepts. Total altruism is only meaningful when there is some generational selfishness. The analysis considers both forward-looking and forward and backward-looking altruism.     

Altruism, motivation, and allocation: giving and using human organs

With tens of thousands of waiting recipients but only 4000-5000 organs available annually, there is a chronic and largely insatiable demand for organ transplants. This article draws on three sources of data regarding the sources of organs donated: a survey of the families of organ donors, a survey of the general public, and a prospective data collection effort from organ procurement agencies. It considers which Americans are willing to engage in this kind of altruism. Furthermore, it discusses the obligations imposed on the nation's public organ procurement and allocation system by the fact that organs are obtained as gifts. It argues that, as all Americans may be asked to donate and there would be social costs to excluding some from a moral community to givers and recipients, all Americans ought to have equal access to organ transplantation.     

Gender, Values, and Environmentalism

Objective . The social psychological values altruism, self-interest, traditionalism, and openness to change are key correlates of environmental concern and proenvironmental behavior. We investigate the relationship between gender and these values to better understand gender differences in environmentalism. We consider both gender differences in value priorities (differences in mean response on value scales) and differences in the meaning of values (differences in the factor structure of values) as well. Methods . Our analysis is based on data from a random-digit dialed national telephone survey of U.S. adults conducted in 1994. We examine differences in factor structure of values for a group of 145 white men and 200 white women using confirmatory factor analysis and differences in mean value scores using multivariate analysis of variance. Results . We find no substantial differences in value factor structure, but differences in value priorities, with women ranking altruism as more important than men. Conclusions . Our analysis supports work that focuses on mean differences in environmentalism across genders without examining gender differences in factor structure, although further examination of gender differences in factor structure is warranted. Our results also highlight the importance of gender differences in altruism as a basis for gender differences in environmentalism.     

Altruism,Social Responsibility,and Government Support For Social Welfare

The study concerns altruistic behaviour in Hong Kong and its relation to social responsibility and support of government responsibility for social welfare. The findings indicated that the community as a whole is likely to engage in altruistic acts. The responses reflect a sense of social responsibility as the most important factor contributing to the explanation of altruism. Independent of other characteristics, those respondents who were more socially responsible were more altruistic. These findings suggest that the people's willingness to help others is largely independent of concern about the interests of society as a priority of responsibility. The general finding is that people are more concerned with individual or familial interests and would sacrifice the interests of society in situations where the two are in conflict.     

Volunteerism Among Social Work Students During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Abstract

This study examined volunteer activities and predictors of volunteerism among graduate and undergraduate social work students (N = 416) from four universities in the Gulf Coast area following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The convenience sample drawn from all social work students at these universities included 89% females, and 52% of the students were in a master's level program. Sixty-one percent of the respondents were African American and 31% were non-Hispanic white. The majority of students volunteered (97%) despite experiencing a range of hurricane-related stressors. Multivariate analyses yielded a regression model that best predicted heightened volunteerism, which included age, school site, previous volunteer experience, hurricane-related stressors, altruism, and increased commitment to social work values (R ² = .35). The strongest predictors of volunteerism were stressor, increased commitment to social work values, and altruism (betas = .30, .26, and .21 respectively). The findings are consistent with previous research on volunteering in times of disaster and with current thinking about posttraumatic growth .     

On the Nature of Toddlers' Helping: Helping or Interest in Others' Activity?

Toddlers' helping has been interpreted as early evidence of cooperation and altruism. We consider whether this important social activity might, instead, be due to toddlers' interest in participating in the activity of others, and we illustrate this possibility with diary observations of infants' social and communicative development. This alternative view of toddlers' helping as one manifestation of a more‐general tendency for social engagement requires a different approach to the explanation of this aspect of social development. We argue for a relational developmental systems account of the emergence and further development of infants' social and emotional engagement leading to toddlers' helping.     

农村民政社会工作的优势

民政社会工作是民政工作中具有社会工作意蕴的相关工作,以政府的行政性手段实施社会福利政策与社会福利服务。它在利他主义的发扬、信任关系的建立、乡土知识的运用、社会资源的引入等方面具有明显的优势,在农村社会工作专业化的过程中应得到继承和发展。     

社会合理性与社会合情性——对人性化社会何以可能的一种思考

社会合理性植根于市场经济的规律性、社会分层的功能性和社会分工的必然性;植根于具有自利性的人性需求。社会合情性则立足于人道主义、反对社会歧视以及要求平等利益等理由;反映的是人性的“利他”感情。合情性的社会是人类历史进步的产物。在构建合情性社会中,政府行使第二次分配资源的职责,扮演“法律父爱主义”的角色;非政府组织则成为新的生力军。只有社会合理性与社会合情性的良性运行,才能使人性化的社会发展成为可能。     

The Taxonomy, Model and Message Strategies of Social Behavior

In an era of rising social awareness, both academics and practitioners have been concerned about the effectiveness of pro‐social consumer influence strategies. The main assumption here is that for social marketing to succeed one must first understand the factors underlying pro‐social consumer behavior. Firstly, drawing on two dimensions (i.e. the welfare receiver and restitution intention) the authors first identify four types of social behavior (altruism, compensation, reciprocity, and egoism). Next, the model describes social behavior as a result of preceding social behavior motivation and actual social behavior intention. Norms and economic evaluation have an impact on social behavior motivation, which in turn influences social behavior intention, eventually leading to actual social behavior. Actual control factors, such as the availability of resources and opportunities, decide whether social behavior intention can really translate into actual social behavior. Finally, authors propose message strategies (incorporating message appeal, message frame and central/peripheral processing) for each type of social behavior.     

How does socio-economic environment influence the distribution of altruism?

This paper analyzes how socio-economic environment affects the extent of individual altruism and its distribution within a society. We show that if the socio-economic institution that structures interactions between individuals can be represented by a supermodular game, individuals tend to become more homogeneous in terms of altruism as spillover effects increase. This implies that people living close to one another and engaging in joint production, such as irrigation agriculture in a rural village, are more likely to exhibit similar levels of altruism than those living apart and engaging in more or less independent work.     

The evolution of human warfare

Here we propose a new theory for the origins and evolution of human warfare as a complex social phenomenon involving several behavioral traits, including aggression, risk taking, male bonding, ingroup altruism, outgroup xenophobia, dominance and subordination, and territoriality, all of which are encoded in the human genome. Among the family of great apes only chimpanzees and humans engage in war; consequently, warfare emerged in their immediate common ancestor that lived in patrilocal groups who fought one another for females. The reasons for warfare changed when the common ancestor females began to immigrate into the groups of their choice, and again, during the agricultural revolution.     

Multiple motives of pro-social behavior: evidence from the solidarity game

The article analyses experimental “solidarity games” with two benefactors and one beneficiary. Depending on their motive for giving—e.g., warm glow, altruism, or guilt—the benefactors’ response functions are either constant, decreasing, or increasing. If motives interact, or if envy is a concern, then more complex (unimodal) shapes may emerge. Controlling for random utility perturbations, we determine which and how many motives affect individual decision making. The main findings are that the motives of about 75% of the subjects can be identified fairly sharply, that all of the motives discussed in the literature co-exist in the population, and that for any given individual no more than two motives (out of six motives considered overall) are identified. We conclude that a unifying motive for solidarity cannot be derived even when we allow for individually heterogeneous parameterization: different subjects give for different reasons and all existing social preference theories are partially correct.     

青少年亲社会行为培养的社会工作介入途径

亲社会行为是道德行为的重要组成部分和最基础的行为表征,通过加强亲社会行为的培养,可以使青少年思想道德培养的认知效果更显著。社会工作采用个案工作、小组工作和社区工作的方法介入亲社会行为的培养,可以为青少年提供必要的帮助和支持,为其亲社会行为的培养提供新的途径与方法。     

Intergenerational justice and the social discount rate

This paper applies the Harsanyi social welfare function to the problem of determining the social discount rate. It thus views the social discount question as one of justice between generations under conditions of individual uncertainty over position, rather than as one generation's paternalism or altruism for the next generation. Whether there is an accumulation of capital for future generations is shown to depend on the form of the individual (or collective) utility function. More importantly, the approach lends some insight into the kind of institutional structure which should be used to determine the social discount rate.This paper was written while the author was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Study of Public Choice at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Helpful comments were received on an earlier draft from James M. Buchanan, Pierre Pestieau, and Robert D. Tollison.     

Religiosity,citizenship and attitudes to social policy issues

Many social policy objectives align with religious beliefs – poverty alleviation, compassion for the poor and addressing more generally the needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society. Yet there are also conflicting views about means, including the role of the state in redistributing resources from the rich and powerful to the poor and powerless. Redistribution and poverty alleviation are central goals of the welfare state, although ideological and other differences mean that views about the need for, as well as the design, delivery and impact of social programs vary. Against this background, this paper reviews existing national and international studies that have examined how religious belief and practice are associated with the attitudes that underpin the welfare state: compassion, altruism, redistribution and egalitarianism, and the activities that are assumed to align with modern conceptions of ‘a good civic citizen‘: participation and engagement. The analysis draws on recent Australian survey data to examine whether the attitudes of those who actively practice their religious beliefs differ from other groups in society and, if so, whether those differences are consistent with the underlying goals of social policy.