| Abstract: | Presents an argument, based on psychological research and inferences about human evolution, for the plausibility of an intrinsic altruistic motive, following which a theoretical model for the development of such a motive is outlined. The central idea of the model is that a person's empathic response to another person's distress, interacting with his cognitive sense of the other person, provides the basis for a motive is outlined. The central idea of the model is that a person's empathic response to another person's distress, interacting with his cognitive sense of the other person, provides the basis for a motive independent of egoistic motivation to help the other person. Empathic distress and 3 steps in the development of a sense of the other are discussed, along with empirical evidence for the approximate ages at which they occur. A theoretical account of the interaction between these effective and cognitive processes is then presented, followed by an attempt to assess the evidence for the theory. (21/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
