Utility functions embodying nonpaternalistic altruism can be regarded as being generated through social interactions among altruistic individuals. As such, they show an important interdependence. Assuming linear altruism, the paper obtains the following results. First, nonpaternalistic altruism has a tendency to unify utility functions. Second, by linearly extrapolating a given structure of alt...

In 2 experimental studies, the authors hypothesized that the performance of altruistic citizenship behavior in a work setting would enhance the favorability of men's (but not women's) evaluations and recommendations, whereas the withholding of altruistic citizenship behavior would diminish the favorability of women's (but not men's) evaluations and recommendations. Results supported the authors...

Interpretational tendencies in ambiguous situations were investigated as causal mechanisms of altruistic compensation. We used a training procedure to induce a tendency to interpret one's own advantages as unjustified. In a subsequent mixed-game, participants had to decide whether to invest their own money to compensate a victim of a norm violation. The amount of one's own resources invested as...

Possible gender stereotypes associated with altruistic acts presented in two types of vignettes were investigated. A sample of 72 General Psychology students were recruited to participate. The researchers had three main hypotheses: Females would more likely be perceived as the performers of an altruistic act, females would more likely be perceived as the receivers of an altruistic act, and the ...

One of the major differences between protozoan differentiation and metazoan differentiation is that protozoan cells normally retain potency during differentiation, which need not, therefore, be considered altruistic. Altruism does, however, arise at the level of the organism and consequently, protozoons have the potential to evolve altruistic traits. This is particularly true when, as with Tryp...

We present a model of altruistically-minded– yet rational– players contributing to a public good. A key feature is the tension between altruism and crowding-out effects. We present three main results: (1) More altruistic behaviour often reduces social welfare; (2) It is almost always optimal for a player to act more selfishly than her true preference; (3) A player’s optimal altruistic commitmen...