Discussion Question

How do the concepts of altruism, kinship impact an average person’s daily life experience?

Altruism is considered to imply to unselfishness, an act of benevolence or welfare to others, or in a broader perspective, cooperative behavior (Scott & Seglow, 2007). Altruistic behavior enhances the well-being of the recipient at the expense of the charitable performer’s resources and energy. The altruistic behavior in most instances involves sacrifice and the potential costs and risks associated with the help. This behavior, which is understood to benefit others at a personal cost to the behaving individual, has stirred the imaginations of psychologists, philosophers, political scientists, economists and evolutionary biologists. People in the society may act altruistically for selfish motives that range from minimizing distress to gaining social rewards; however, some acts of altruism get based on a more selfless state of empathic concern.

There are two evolutionary explanations for altruism namely kin selection and reciprocity. Kin selection is defined as an evolutionary strategy that is for the reproductive success of a person’s genetic relatives, which is even at a cost to a person’s survival and reproduction. The kin selection perspective states that people should be more likely to assist those who share their genes. Therefore, the society’s helping behavior is more inclined towards akin as compared to towards a non-kin. Across different cultures of the world, the society reports that they receive significant help from close kin as compared to distant relatives or friends.

In the modern society, there is self-evidence of the advantages of altruism. There has been a significant effect on the concepts of altruism as explained by kinship selection on the average person’s daily life experience. The average person is more likely to receive help from a close relative as compared to a distant person. As explained by kin selection, the concepts of altruism have resulted in improved standard of living of the average person’s life due to increased cooperation and assistance from relatives.

References

Scott, N., & Seglow, J. (2007). Altruism. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in research paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order from Top American Writing Services.