« Back to Definitions Index
A motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare.
In developmental psychology, altruism refers to prosocial behaviour that is motivated intrinsically rather than by the expectations of rewards or the avoidance of punishment.
References
Batson, C. D., Lishner, D. A., & Stocks, E. L. (2015). 13 The Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis. In The Oxford handbook of prosocial behavior (pp. 259-268). Oxford library of psychology.
Spinrad, T. L., & Eisenberg, N. (2017). Compassion in children. The Oxford handbook of compassion science, 53-63.