why is altruism puzzling?
contradictory for maximum profict according to subjective expected utility
evolutionary biology claims survival of the fittest, is contradictory to givimg something away for free
ultimate causation
evolutionary long term reasons —> adaptivity
proximate causation
immediate, direct causes of behavior or trait
—> e.g. neuroscience topics
Mechanism
what causes the behavior at a specific moment?
proximate snapshot
ontogeny
how does behavior develop over the course of an idnividuals life?
proximate story
adaptive value
what is the adaptive value of the behavior
ultimate snapshot
phylogeny
how has the behavior evolved over the evolutionary history of the species
4 tinbergen questions
mechanism
what are proximate causes of altruism?
empathy altruism hypothesis and warm glow
if we empathize with others —> we feel bad too and it feels good to help them because then we have less pain too
traits that make us act altruisticly
empathy esp. personal distress subscale
inclusion of others in self scale —> protection of those close to you —> survival of genes
justice sensitivity: how unfair you feel something is from different perspectives
justice sensitivity subscales
perceptive sensitivity
emotional reactions
intrusiveness —> how much does this limit my autonomy
feelings of strain
neuronal correlates of proximate causes
mirror neurons: shared manifold of intersubjectivity
monkeys: auditory feedback when the neurons fire
firing when monkey takes banana but also when someone else takes the banana
—> mirror neurons as neural correlate of the state empathy
brain regions that are active both when
peopole experience an emotion
they observe another person experiencing this emotion
empathy for pain
involves affective conponents but not sensory components of pain
people with higher trait empathy
higher activation in left anteriror insula & acc
insula = involved in emotion processind
receives projections about somatosensory states
processes negative embodied cognition + experience
imagined pain
imagined pain to
loved-one
stranger
self
ACC & Insula but much less for stranger than loved one
right temporoparietal junction —> self-other distinction
more negative the more self & other are involved
importance for theory of mind
functional neuroanatomy in altruism
insula
anterior cingulate cortex
temporoparietal junction
Insula
- disgust, empathy, morality
o Posterior: Auditory-somatosensory
o Dorsal posterior: warmth & pain
o Central: viscerosensory, gustatory
o Anterior: olfactory
Anterior cingulate cortex
—> reciprocity, motivational regulation, affect regulation
o Error detection
o Conflict monitoring
o Posterior: spatial, action
o Anterior: choice outcome prediction & processing
Temporo-parietal junction
—> deactivation results in lower self-other-distinction
o Left: wernicke area & angular gyrus
o Right: distinguishing self-produced from external signals
effective connectivity changes
two conditions:
reciprocity —> inclined to give so something back
empathy —> observing of unfairness and helping out of empathy
Identical behavior but different motives lead to functional connectivity changes
—> positive connectivity changes in insula and ventral striatum in reciprocity and not in empathy
traits x resting state parameters
correlation of justice sensitivity with grey matter volume in the insula
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