Altruism Research

The Open University of Israel
Faculty of Social Sciences

BA Psychology Program Ψ
2007–12–24
igreenblat@yahoo.com
A Good Samaritan Indeed? The Quest for non-

Beneficial Altruism in the Material World
Research Seminar on Group Identification Course (10575)
Student Name: Igor Greenblat
Student ID Number: 308896638
Directed By: Dr. Gal Gorodeisky-Harpaz
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Contents
ABSTRACT 3
INTRODUCTION 4
THE RATIONALE OF CURRENT STUDY 4

REVIEW OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR EXPLANATIONS – CLASSIC THEORIES 5
PREDICTIONS OF A COSTLY-SIGNALING THEORY 6
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES 7
DEPENDENT VARIABLE 8
HYPOTHESES 9
THE INTEGRATIVE MODEL 11
METHOD 13
PARTICIPANTS 13
MATERIALS 13
PROCEDURE 14
RESULTS 15
PREMISE 15
PEARSON LINEAR CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS 15
INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS AND INTEGRATIVE MODEL VALIDATION 16
DISCUSSION 18
RESULTS SUMMARY 18
EVALUATING THE RESULTS 18
ALTRUISM AS A COSTLY SIGNAL 19
THE RELIGIOSITY PARADOX 22
THE NATURE OF ALTRUISM: INTENTIONAL "GREEDINESS" OR EVOLUTIONARY SURVIVAL MECHANISM? 23
"EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION" – THE GAME THEORY 24
PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM 24
HERBERT SIMON AND THE BOUNDED RATIONALITY 25
IS IT GOOD TO BE GOOD? 25
DRAWBACKS AND "WEAK POINTS" OF THE CURRENT STUDY 25
THE EPILOGUE – SOME INSIGHTS ON ALTRUISM IN THE NEW MILLENNIA AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 26
REFERENCES 28
APPENDIXES 37
APPENDIX I: THE RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT INVENTORY (RCI-10) 10-ITEM SELF-IDENTIFICATION SCALE 37

APPENDIX II: MEHRABIAN'S 11-ITEM CONFORMITY SCALE 38
APPENDIX III: ROSENBERG'S SELF-ESTEEM 10-ITEM SCALE 39
APPENDIX IV: THE PROSOCIAL TENDENCIES MEASURED – REVISED (PTM-R) 23-ITEM SCALE 40
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 42
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Abstract
The study examines the ability of three independent variables (personal self-esteem,
social conformity and religiosity level) to predict tendency towards prosocial behavior. Each
of one hundred and twenty participants drawn from heterogenic population completed a
questionnaire containing four sub-tests measuring the attributes. The Introduction chapter
presents a review of classic and modern theories on prosociality, hypotheses of the present
study derive from theories in a field of social psychology. Additionally an integrative
theoretical model underlying the relations between the variables is suggested; an interaction
hypothesis predicting the strongest effect is proposed as well. The population of the research,
data collecting method and materials are presented in the Method chapter. The summary of
empiric results of the research followed by statistical analyses is presented in the Results
chapter. In the final chapter the results and their implication are discussed; the Discussion
chapter includes the dispute on nature of human altruism as well, whether it is "impure"
(motivated by the expectation of material rewards of self-interest) or "pure", meaning people
help as a consequence of personal traits, which form the "altruistic personality" or out of a
sense of duty to uphold certain moral principles. It is important to clarify, that the ability of
the current research to counterpoise such a complicated philosophic subject is restricted; the
goal is not to solve the altruism/egoism controversy, but to speculate the validity of the
popular conceptions regarding the issue. Both the theoretic question concerning the nature of
human altruism that will be raised in this study and the presented empiric research designed
to evaluate the predictors of prosociality are two corresponding paths of an effort to
understand the mechanism of prosociality.
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"We should often blush at our noblest deeds

If the world were to see all their underlying motives"
- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Introduction
The Rationale of Current Study
It is suggested that religiosity, self-esteem and social conformity are reliable predictors of
prosocial tendencies. Following the premises of Costly-Signaling Theory (firstly proposed
by Amotz Zahavi, 1975) prosocial tendencies are examples of social signaling behavior
patterns; religious, conformal and insecure people need to perform social signaling in order to
satisfy their psychological and evolutionary needs. Bulbulia (2004) reviewed the role of
religion as a reciprocal altruistic signaling pattern from the cognitive point of view. The
complexity of the links between prosociality and self-esteem was presented and discussed
recently (Carlo, G., Laible, D.J., & Roesch, S.C., 2004; Feather N.T., 1991; Ben-Shlomo, S.,
Findler, L., & Taubman-Ben-Ari, O., 2005). Although majority of research concerning the
conformity-prosociality linkage has been performed in twentieth century (Boyd &
Richerson's Conformist Transmission Model, 1985; Asch, 1951), the presumption that human
co-operative behavior is based on conformal socialization and "culturization" processes is
supported by the researchers nowadays and recently was validates by corresponding
computer model (Coultas, J.C., 2004). Applied scientists, such as organizational behavior
researchers are interested in implications of conformity-cooperation route on leadership and
followership (Van Vugt, M., 2005).
The current study presents an explanation of the correlations between the variables basing on
Costly-Signaling Theory and suggests comprehending humans as "benefit seekers", however
not claiming for the weighed utilitarianism of the human psyche, but rather targeting to
evolutional roots of prosociality. Costly-Signaling theory can be applied broadly to human
and non-human alike, and as such fascinating researchers in a wide range of fields, including
biology, economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, communication studies,
linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. Since the posteriori results of this study were not
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coherent with assumptions made a-priori, a broad presentation of the theoretic base was
crucial in order to re-evaluate the relations between the social values involved in the research.
Review of Prosocial Behavior Explanations – Classic Theories

The theoretical study of the never-ending competition between altruism and egoism is a
fascinating one with endless possibilities. Altruism (derived from French autre "another")
describes people's tendency to put the welfare of others ahead of their own. Why people act
altruistically? What drives people like Mother Theresa? No unanimity regarding the entity of
the topic achieved so far; appears that vast variety of conflicting views derive from different
conceptions of human nature, either psychological, evolutionary-biological or philosophic.
The psychoanalytical approach to altruism ties pro-social behavior (as a part of morality
values cluster) to Ego and Super-Ego formation processes, leaning on self-identification
patterns and unconscious internalization of social laws, represented by morality.
Psychotherapists emphasize the importance of identification and childhood experiences for
acquiring adult prosocial behavioral patterns. Adolescent behavior according to
psychoanalysis is characterized by tendency for self-satisfaction, so-called Adolescent
Egocentrism (Holder, 1995) and therefore prosocial tendencies evolve only in later period but
not in early childhood.
The Social and Emotional Development theory (Ericsson, 1959) emphasizes the importance
of parental treatment as well; a child, according to Ericsson, evolves basic trust or basic
distrust towards his parents and so his tendency towards pro-social behavior in the adulthood
is reinforced.
Social Learning Theories (Sears, Maccoby & Levin, 1957; Skinner, 1971; Bandura, 1977;
Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1999) arise from behaviorist's claim, that pro-social behavior is
learned in person's social environment via modeling, positive and negative reinforcements of
expedient and non-expedient social behaviors and developed as a part of a much wider
socialization processes in which parents' role is critical. Pro-social skills are internalized
gradually, as long as the environment is not demanding major behavioral changes.
Cognitive development theories (Piaget, 1977; Kohlberg, 1958; Kohlberg, 1973 & Eisenburg,
1995) claim that the child is involved in an interactive relationship with his environment
since his birth; the necessary attendants of the interaction are assimilation and
accommodation processes of the socio-cognitive data; infant’s behavior will differ from his
peers' because of social data processing varieties. The pre-operational stage of cognitive
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development is characterized by egoistic and concrete cognitive patterns; mental

symbolization ability allows the child to see the world out of his egocentric point of view,
"through the eyes of others", to think abstractly and to understand the principles of
reciprocity.
The Socio-biological attachment approach (John Bowlby, 1958) is the most deterministic and
yet most optimistic among all other theories; Bowlby claims, that pro-social behavior is
programmed genetically in our DNA, its substantiation evolves as much as the environment
allows it. Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggests that human development is a positive process,
unless "interrupted by the society". Parents should not interfere their children’s natural
development, and so most of the juniors will make efforts to fulfill their parents' wishes
(Ainsworth, Bell and Stayton, 1974).
How a behavior that reduces an individual's fitness (naturally requiring selfishness) survived
the selective forces of natural selection? None of the classic theories speculates about the
motivational nature of human prosociality as well. The recent and most relevant for current
study approach in the area that dares to discuss core issues of altruistic motivation from
evolutionary point of view is Costly-Signaling Theory (CST). Costly signaling theory explains
how individuals use costly behaviors to spread partially concealed (in order to avoid
suspicion of bragging) information about their positive qualities, such as intelligence
(Dewitte, C. & Millet, K., 2007, in press) or social dominance (Neiman, 1999). According to
CST researchers, altruistic behavior is no more than a self-advertising strategy, showing off
the colorful peacock tail, a "way of positioning oneself for access to resources during
unforeseen future times of need" (Boone, 1998).
Predictions of a Costly-Signaling Theory

A costly signal is a “social signal whose reliability is ensured because its cost is greater than
required by efficacy requirements; the signal may be costly to produce, or have costly
consequences" (Harper & Smith, 2003). Costly signaling for purposes of mating, alliance
formation, and warning of potential enemies, although originally deriving from the animal
world has been reported among humans as well (Zahavi, 1977; Maynard Smith, 1991;
Johnstone, 1995; Wright, 1999 & Grafen, 2006). According to CST, altruistic actions are
"social signals", indicating the society about sender’s personal qualities. Seems that many
great acts of generosity, altruism and helping are expressions of pursuit for self-enhancement,
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motivated by the pursuit of self-esteem, and therefore guided by an egoistic concern

(Crocker&Park, 2004; Pysczcynski, Greenberg & Goldenberg, 2002; Solomon et al., 1991).
Moreover, costly signaling, in form of providing benefits to others, is able to solve the
problem of maintaining cooperation in a group (Gintis et. al, 2001). Since humans are "social
animals", the cooperation between and within social groups, including "genetic strangers", is
crucial for social success. Why humans invest time and energy in signaling to others? CST
predicts, that pro-social behavior towards others will occur only, if those who observe the
signal will respond with high probability in ways favorable to the signaler, in other words the
probable future benefit or "the expectation of deceit" for the performer is the motive altruistic
activity (Gintis et al., 2001).
Independent Variables
Self-esteem appears to be a major part of both personal and social self-definition, most often
it refers to the positivity of the one's global evaluation of the self. There are several
definitions of the term, including "the average tone of self-feeling that each of us carries
about with him, and which is independent of the objective reasons we may have for
satisfaction or discontent" (James, 1890), "a self-reflexive attitude that results from
conceiving the self as an object of evaluation" (Rosenberg, 1965) and "a basic universal
human need to feel good about ourselves" (Dutton &.Brown, 1997). Self-esteem is valuable
only when the self has social meaning and based on comparison to others, according to
Festinger's Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954). Recent studies support the
importance of early adaptation of positive self-esteem for general positive social functioning
in adulthood (Feinstein, 2000), successful marriage (Shackelford, 2001), social attractiveness
(Lerner & Taylor, 2003) and stress immunity (Bonanno et al, 2002). Low self-esteem was
associated with negative cognitive schemes causing psychopathological problems (Van Zyl et
al., 2006), eating disorders such as obesity (Young-Hyman et al., 2003), anorexia and bulimia
(Erkolahti et al., 2002). Urdan and Midgley (2002) suggested that fear of failure and ridicule,
typical to "low self-estimators" is a motivator of self-handicapping behaviors.
Apparently, high self-esteem is a valuable and important virtue; those who lack it might
consider its achievement "effort-worthy" and invest energy (social signaling) in order to
boost their self-esteem.
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Conformity level – conformity is a tendency to change perceptions, cognitions or behavior, in

order to fit social norms (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). People avoid violating social norms,
knowing that exceptional opinion is not popular. Conformity also underlines one's
willingness to identify with others and emulate them, to avoid negative interactions and
generally to be a follower, rather than a leader in terms of ideas, values and behaviors (Van
Vugt, 2005); therefore conformity can be polarized to traits like opportunism, leadership and
risk-taking tendency. Sometimes conformal predisposition causes people to act accordingly
to acceptable "majority schematics" even if people know that those are completely wrong
(Asch, 1951; Sheriff, 1961). Apart the negative aspects, conformity helps to sustain group
stability and highly encouraged in some of the Eastern societies that admire collectivistic
values (Logan & Qirko, 1998). In the Western culture, conformity is not a valuable trait, but
rather a personal need based on a fear of social exclusion and peer's rejection (Miller, W.,
1958) that might require a satisfaction and therefore capable to catalyze social signaling.
Religiosity level – According to the consensus document from the National Institute for
Healthcare Research (Hill et al., 1998), religiosity is defined as “the feelings, thoughts,
experiences, and behaviors that arise from a search for the sacred”. The research of religiosity
fascinates scientists; some of the investigated issues are the relationship between religiosity
and socio-economic values (Garza & Neuman, 2004), addictive behaviors of religious people
(Nollen et al., 2004) and correlation of religiosity level and IQ (Clark, 2004). Religious
commitment is comprised of two aspects - religious consciousness and religious participation.
Religious consciousness is the degree by which individuals pursue the importance of religion
in everyday affairs while religious participation is the involvement in all activities pertaining
to religion (Abdon, N., 1997). The questionnaire included in this study is testing both.
Dependent variable
Prosocial behavior tendency – a tendency to be concerned with and helpful to others; will be
measured using 23-item PTR-M (Prosocial Tendencies Measure – Revised) questionnaire (5
– point Likert response scale), developed by Carlo, Christiansen, Haussmann and Randall.
Gustavo Carlo (Carlo et al., 2003) defined six types of prosocial behaviors: Public prosocial
behavior intended to benefit others enacted in the presence of others; Anonymous prosocial
behavior is a tendency to help others without other people's knowledge; Dire prosocial
behavior refer to helping other under crisis conditions; Emotional prosocial behavior benefits
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others enacted under emotionally loaded conditions; Compliant prosocial behavior means to
help upon being asked to; Altruism refers to helping others when there is a little or no
perceived potential for a direct, explicit reward to the self.
Hypotheses
Negative correlation between the self-esteem and altruistic behavior tendency. A pursuit of
self-esteem provides a powerful source of motivation (Crocker & Park, 2004). The "desired
self" (a self-image that an individual would like to be) is usually very positive; people attempt
to approximate their "actual self" (self-image that an individual believes that he or she has
about himself) to the "desired self" (Higgins, 1987). However, when people recognize that
these types of self have discrepancies, they might experience negative affects. The gap
between the actual and desired perceptions of the self, in some cases, pushes the person to
seek for equilibrium between defined sorts of self-perceptions according to Self-Efficacy
Theory (Bandura 1978a). Additionally, the Mattering (a feeling that one counts or really
makes a difference, Rosenberg, 1985) is a strong predictor of mental well-being and Elliott,
Colangelo and Gilles (2005) found an association between mattering and levels of self-
esteem, in other words positive self-image is corresponding with high level of self-efficiency.
Positive correlation between the level of conformity and altruistic behavior tendency. Social
norms support altruism by promoting conformity (Lindbeck & Nyberg, 2006). The
hypothesis is supported by Milgram's (1970) cognitive overload theory. From "Lost Letter
Technique" studies we conclude, that the level of social response differs between the urban
and the rural population – while city dwellers are expected to become generally indifferent to,
and make fewer differentiations between "unimportant others" due to the cognitive overload,
village and small towns inhabitants tend to be more "socially responsible". Altruism is
especially likely to be observed toward in-group members (Triandis, 1994). Since social
norms in "smaller" places are strict and social responsibility level is higher, greater
intolerance for social deviance as gay relationships and children born out of the marital frame
is observed in small towns. Higher levels of social conformity encourage (or encouraged by)
collectivist values as caring, cooperation, sense of "togetherness", group entitativity,
"normative" political beliefs, etc. The meaning of helping group members increases, this type
of altruistic behavior have much in similar with sociobiological mechanisms, which suggest
contribution to other's wealth in order to be rewarded in need. The conclusion from all the
stated above: conformity demands helping others, therefore positive correlation between the
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conformity level and the tendency to altruistic tendency is expected. Another factor that
might contribute to the linkage suggested above is the prediction of Janis' group think model
(Janis, 1982). According to the model, group conformity and groupthink positively correlate
with low personal self-esteem, which supposedly contributes to pro-social behavior.
Religion contributes to prosociality perceptions among Jewish population – high self-

indicated religiosity level predicts higher prosocial tendency, comparatively to secular
participants. The widespread assumption is that religion contributes to prosociality. Religion,
as part of culture provides mechanisms that control the natural destructiveness of humans
caused by their "greedy" tendencies, such as narcissism and sexual impulses (Freud, 1927).
Christian saints and holy figures are models of charity and altruism; their behaviors are
pragmatically risky, but important for the human community. Religious people tend to be (or
at least perceive themselves) as prosocial and helpful, agreeable and ready to forgive, many
see religion as "social adhesive", promoting altruism and mutuality. In contrast, the dominant
conclusion of Psychology of Religion is that religious people only appear to be helpful and
prosocial; they are preoccupied with their positive self-perception rather then by the needs of
others. Pfeuffer (2006) suggests that that religious involvement may be taken as an example
in a ’signaling’ approach to the evolution of cooperation, therefore participation in religious
activities allows to create a cost-benefit tradeoff. The contrast between the ideals and self-
perceptions of religious people on one hand and results of studies using other research
strategies in the other hand is so striking, that researchers may be tempted to suspect moral
hypocrisy in religious people. Significant amount of research performed in this subject
(Orbell, 1992; Smith & Kim, 2004), although most of the studies base on Christian morale
and its contribution to prosocial behavior. Christianity is proclaiming altruism even more
than its theological predecessor. While Judaism claims to pay an equal reward to an aggressor
– "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", Jesus Christ's suggests his followers: "If anyone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take
your outer garment, give your undergarment as well; and if one of the occupation troops
forces you to carry his pack one mile, go two." (The New Testament, Matthew 5:38-41).
The Buddhist and the Islamic modus operandi seems to be “overly-altruistic” too: “The man
who foolishly does me wrong, I will return him the protection of my most ungrudging love”
(Buddha), “By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you spend of that which you
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love” (Qur’an 3:92), "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves
for himself" (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, a Muslim scholar and poet). However, history tells us that
words and deeds are not always corresponding - hundreds of thousands were burned alive “in
the name of Jesus” by the holy inquisition; the hatred between Shiite Muslims and Sunnites
harvests thousands of dead bodies; in the 14th century Buddhist fighters led the uprising that
evicted the Mongols from China, killing thousands; in Japan, Buddhist monks trained
Samurai warriors in meditation that made them better killers; in the twentieth century
Japanese Zen masters wrote in support of Japan’s wars of aggression… Majority of the
research linking religion and altruism is based on Christian morale; the present study is
testing the religiosity – prosociality linkage among the Jewish population of Israel. It is
proposed that allegedly higher altruistic tendency underlined by an urge "to present a divine
kindness" is typical for Jewish religious people as well.
The integrative model

The subject of this paper – predicting altruistic behavior, is widely covered by broad
spectrum of researchers in a variety of academic fields – psychology, biology, sociology,
political science, economy, etc. The presented integrative model is based on socio-
evolutionary approach of Costly-Signaling Theory.
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The model above is coherent with proposed research hypotheses; in addition, it suggests the
social conformity level as a mediator between both religiosity and self-esteem variables and
altruism. According to the presented model, religiosity contributes to altruism both directly,
via religious norms of cooperation and charity and indirectly, mediated by social conformity.
Religion often demands boundless and blind obedience rather then understanding from its
followers (Wagener, 1998); the conformity constructed by obedience requires sticking to the
norms of majority, above the religion. People whose Self-Esteem level is low usually lack
individualistic qualities such as leadership and independent thinking, according to Janis'
group think model (Janis, 1982) group conformity and groupthink correlate with low personal
self-esteem.
Interaction Hypothesis: It was predicted that interaction of low Self-Esteem level with high
Religiosity and Conformity levels would have the strongest effect on Altruistic Behavior
Tendency.
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Method
Participants
The sample was comprised of one hundred and twenty adult male and female participants -
seventy-four males and forty six females; ages ranged from 24.5 to 59 with mean of 33.7
years. All the participants are Israeli citizens, while Hebrew is a mother tongue for seventy-
eight of them and the remaining forty-two speak Hebrew fluently. The sample was drawn
from a broad heterogenic population – friends, college students, colleagues, parents and their
friends; all of them Jewish, moderately religious, secular or agnostic; most of them holding
high education diplomas (BA or higher). Three participants did not complete the combined
questionnaire; their questionnaires were not included in the pool. The participation in an
anonymous research was voluntary.
Materials
All one hundred and twenty participants completed a questionnaire containing:
1. The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) Religiosity 10-item self-
identification scale (see Appendix I). The scale is a refinement of the RCI-17
(McCullough et. al, 1997) questionnaire, which demonstrated high internal
consistency (α=0.94). The RCI-17 is based on Worthington's theory of religious
values (Worthington et al., 1988).
2. Mehrabian's 11-item conformity scale (see Appendix II) designed to reduce
"acquiescence bias" – the tendency of some people to agree or to disagree with
any statement. The items are valuated via 9-point agreement-disagreement scale.
In terms of internal consistency, the mean absolute value of all 11-item total
correlations is 0.54.
3. Rosenberg's 10-item scale (RSE, see Appendix III) is used to assess global self-
esteem. Significant construct validity (p<0.05) between RSE and self-reports,
nurses' opinions, ratings of depression, psycho-physiological indicators of anxiety
and other relevant constructs was measured. Cronbach's alpha coefficient is 0.78.
4. The Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) 25-item scale (see
Appendix IV) measures six prosocial sub-behaviors: Public, Anonymous, Dire,
Emotional, Compliant and Altruistic tendencies. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for
the PTM-R composite is 0.87.
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All the questionnaires were translated from English to Hebrew and combined into a single
sheet, including a short foreword section and four sub-tests.
SPSS 14.0 processing software (evaluation version) was utilized while performing all
statistical calculations.
Procedure
Each participant was asked to complete the combined questionnaire and return it filled,
manually or by e-mail. The participants were informed that the research investigates social
tendencies and behavioral patterns among Israelis. The foreword section contained
commitment of anonymousness and a request to read the instructions for each sub-test
carefully. The time gap between the reception of the questionnaire and its returning varied
between one and seventeen days, there was no time pressure or intentional researcher's bias
of any sort. None of the participants filled the questionnaire in the presence of the researcher
or returned the questionnaire in the day of reception.
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Results
Premise
Prior to the major data collection, twenty-six participants were tested using the same
combined questionnaire in order to examine the apparent tendencies. The results of the pre-
test indicated no expected statistical correlation between independent variables and the
altruistic tendency, in contrary to a-priory hypothesis. All three hypothesized correlations,
although insignificant due to insufficient number of participants (twenty-six only) in the pre-
test, correlated with other type of prosocial tendency: while low self-esteem, high religiosity
and high conformity levels were predicted to correlate positively with Altruistic prosocial
tendency, the posteriori results show expected correlations but with Public prosocial tendency
and very weak correlations with Altruism. The pre-test results shifted the focus of the
research to broader investigation of prosocial norms. Since PTM-R allows the measurement
of Public, Anonymous, Dire, Compliant and Emotional forms of prosocial norms additionally
to Altruism, all six sub-forms were included in the research. A particular attention was
focused on Public prosocial tendency linkage with all three independent variables, since it
significantly correlated (r= -0.32, the "broad test" result and r=-0.37 in "pre-test", α=0.05)
with Altruistic tendency. Public Prosocial tendency is defined by Gustavo Carlo (Carlo, G., et
al., 2002) as a "tendency to benefit others enacted in the presence of others", namely helping
people when others are watching. Since no predicted correlation between independent
variables and Altruism were observed, altruistic values were not included in the regression
analysis.
Pearson Linear Correlation Coefficients

The following table presents Pearson's linear correlation coefficients between independent
variables:
Religious Beliefs Conformity Self-Esteem
Religious Beliefs 0.07
Conformity -0.32
Self-Esteem 0.01
Among three possible correlations, only the correlation between Self-Esteem and Conformity
found significant (α=0.05).
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The following table presents Pearson's linear correlation coefficients (indicating main effects)
between all independent and dependent variables:
Independent \
Dependent Public Anonymous Dire Emotional Compliant Altruism
Religious
Beliefs 0.31 0.07 0.15 0.08 0.05 -0.16
Conformity 0.43 -0.20 0.001 0.11 0.09 -0.21
Self-Esteem -0.36 0.13 0.04 -0.04 -0.008 0.19
Among eighteen possible correlations, only the correlations between Public prosocial
tendencies with all three independent variables found significant (α=0.05).
Interaction Hypothesis and Integrative Model Validation

All statistical regression tests were performed for α=0.05. The interaction hypothesis
predicted low Self-Esteem level with high Religiosity and Conformity levels as the
combination with the strongest effect on Altruistic tendency. Since the dependent variable
was shifted to Public social tendency instead of Altruism, the ability of combination to
predict high Public social tendency was tested. Univariate analysis of variance (regression
analysis) was performed in order to check the effects.
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: pub

Partial Eta Type III Sum
Squared Sig. F Mean Square df of Squares Source
.262 .000 8.102 117.774 5 588.868(a) Corrected Model
.867 .000 740.372 10762.228 1 10762.228 Intercept
.099 .001 12.555 182.504 1 182.504 relig_hl
.066 .005 8.023 116.625 1 116.625 comf_hl
.102 .000 13.016 189.204 1 189.204 esteem_hl
.009 .305 1.060 15.412 1 15.412 relig_hl * comf_hl
.000 .952 .004 .053 1 .053 comf_hl * esteem_hl
14.536 114 1657.132 Error
Total
120 14246.000
119 2246.000 Corrected Total

a R Squared = .262 (Adjusted R Squared = .230)
Main effects: Religiosity – F (1,114) =12.555; PV=0.001
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Conformity – F (1,114) =8.023; PV=0.05

Self-Esteem – F (1,114) =13.016; PV=0.000
Interaction effects:
Interaction of Religiosity * Conformity – F (1,114) =1.06; PV= 0.305
Interaction of Conformity * Self-Esteem – F (1,114) =.004; PV= 0.952
All the main effects are significant for the given alpha; no significant interaction effects
between the variables were observed.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant mediation of Conformity level
variable, when Conformity is held constant there were no significant effect of Religiosity-
Public Prosociality and Self-Esteem – Public Prosociality relations.
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Discussion
Results Summary
1. All three independent variables (Religiosity, Social Conformity and Self-Esteem)
significantly predict Public Prosocial behavior tendency.
2. As expected, a significant linear correlation between self-esteem and conformity level
(P=-0.32) measured. This outcome is coherent with previous studies (Milgram, 1977;
De Charms & Rosenbaum, 1957)
3. The proposed integrative model is faulty, although the main and the interactive effects
exist, only the main effects found statistically significant.
4. None of the predictors contributes to Altruistic prosocial behavior tendency.
5. The predicted interaction between independent variables fails to contribute to Public
Behavior tendency or Altruism.
6. Higher religiosity predicts higher Public prosocial tendency and does not predict
higher altruism.
Evaluating the Results

Three independent variables of the current research significantly predict Public behavior
tendency. As the "fixed" first hypothesis (replacing the "Altruism" by "Public prosociality")
stated, low Self-Esteem levels negatively and significantly correlated to Public prosociality
(r=-0.36, significant for any alpha level). Coherently with the second and third "fixed"
hypotheses, high Conformity and Religiosity levels significantly correlated with high Public
prosociality (r=0.43 and r=0.31, significant for any alpha level). However, the integrative
model failed to prove the predicted links. The revised model, containing valid relations
between the variables is presented:
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The negative correlation between the Self-Esteem and Conformity levels is significant (r=-
0.32), although the mediation of the conformity variable was not proved, while conformity is
held constant no significant cumulative effect of the remaining independent variables found
significant. It was suggested here, that conformity mediates part of a correlation between the
religiosity and prosocial tendency. However, ANOVA results revealed no correlation of a
kind; only the main effect of religiosity and Public Prosociality was significant.
The hypothesis linking high conformity and religiosity levels was based on personal
observation of the suggestive power of religious leaders and their effect on believers. One
who radically believes in religious leader's opinion not because he has reasons for thinking he
is more likely to be right, but simply because faith requires him to do so, is able to perform
extremely radical acts which cannot be explained by other reason than religious conformity.
Mass suicides occur in religious or occult settings, such as the legendary collectively
committed suicide of 960 members of the Sicarii Jewish community at Masada (rather than
be conquered and enslaved by the Romans, each man killed his wife and children, then the
men drew lots and killed each other until the last man killed himself) or the Jonestown
suicides in Guyana, where 913 people died in 1978 under the direction of Jim Jones, an
evangelist preacher and head of the Peoples Temple (of the 914 dead, 276 were children and
over 100 of the adults were murdered). The absence of hypothesized correlation between the
religiosity and the conformity can be explained by relatively narrow "religiosity margin" of
the participants, none of them belonged to Jewish orthodox community. It appears that
religious conformity is likely to occur among extremely religious populations, which were
not included in the current research.
The interaction hypothesis is invalid as well. Religious, conformal people with low self-
esteem are neither particularly "high" in Public Prosociality nor in Altruism.
Altruism as a Costly Signal

One of the goals of the current paper was to investigate the meaning of term "altruism" by
evaluating its correlation with three personal characteristics – Personal Self-Esteem, Social
Conformity and Religiosity. As it was described in the previous chapter, the preliminary (as
well as the final) results didn't indicate any support to the hypotheses and therefore the focus
of the research was shifted to another - Public - type of prosocial tendency. Gustavo Carlo
(Carlo, G., et al., 2003) hypothesizes that "specific prosocial behaviors would be related
differently to specific sociocognitive and socioemotive skills" and links it to approval-
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oriented prosocial reasoning. Both Altruistic and Public prosocial tendencies are sub-chapters
of the broad set of personal qualities called "Prosocial behaviors" and both describe helping
patterns and assume a certain personality structure performing those behaviors or even
declaring to behave in coherency with presented behavioral patterns. However, there is a
major difference between those two values (supported statistically by the negative correlation
mentioned above, r=-0.32 in current research and -0.22 in Gustavo Carlo's), it re-evaluates
the rationale of this work and therefore will now be discussed broadly.
The essence of human nature has been a philosophical dispute during the past centuries.
Philosophers throughout the ages have debated whether humans actually intend to perform
actions beneficial to others and costly to themselves without any clear resolution. In recent
years, psychologists have addressed the enduring debate with data on the mental experiences
leading to helping behaviors, however these studies produce conflicting results according the
nature of helping mechanism, whether it is egoistic (Bloom & Clark, 1976), empathetic
(Christopher, 2006) or a combination of self-oriented and altruistic motivations that serve as
equal and essential partners in human evolution and development, both necessary for
evolutionary advancement and for psychological health (Shapiro & Gabard, 1994). Alice
Schlegel (1980) highlights two types of altruism: pure altruism allows no expectation of any
benefits whatsoever to the giver and generalized (impure, egoistic, beneficial) altruism
describes situations, when the giver expects (even if not consciously) to receive some
benefit. She suggests that generalized altruism is more likely to be found in individualistic
societies. Lee (2005) suggests that altruistic behavior is related to the Daoistic model of
"wateristic" personality and highly regarded by Asian cultures while aggressive and
competitive behavior is valued by people of European descent. Fehr, Fishbacher and Gacher
(2001) suggest that humans have a tendency to cooperate voluntarily if treated fairly and the
reciprocity (generalized altruism) is a powerful device of social control. The Social
Psychology literature shows that increased visibility of behavior increases co-operation in a
range of social dilemmas (Benzioni et al., 1996). Several of these hypotheses concerning
altruism are supported empirically, but the general impression after reviewing reasonable
amount of altruism research is, that if the "generalized" (kin, impure) altruism is considered
as a biological reality, "pure" or "nonbeneficial" altruism exists only "in the eye of the
beholder”. In a sarcastic way of speech, altruism frequently is purely "impure", even if
considered nonbeneficial by humans. Every altruistic act could be interpreted as a "greedy"
behavior, just if the interpreter dares to be cynical enough. Human relief donations might be a
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way to escape feelings of guilt caused by sins of the past or a wish to "eternize" the memory
of a diseased; donating money and helping poor might disguise an electoral campaign
intentions, as many Israelis claim about the former Soviet oligarch Arcady Gaidamak;
reputation can also play an important role in reciprocal altruism, when individuals benefit
from learning if their future social partners previously defected or cooperated with others,
therefore "spreading the knowledge" about one's charity deeds or another variation of
altruistic behavior might increase his chances to gain social status (Fehr, 2004). If going to
extreme, even Mother Theresa's deeds closely tied to the Catholic perception of heaven and
its "enrolling methods". Religious beliefs, including promised rewards in the afterlife
facilitate the cooperation by altering the perceived payoffs of costly actions, including
suicidal terrorism. The Costly-Signaling Theory (Smith and Bird, 2000; Miller, 2000; Grafen,
1990; Spence, 1973; Zahavi 1975) supports those "insights" by empirical research and solid
theoretical acknowledgements; it suggests the following: "Extreme forms of philanthropy and
altruism are conspicuous displays of resources that serve to reinforce one's status." CST
supporters see hidden beneficial motives beyond altruistic behaviors – "Apparently, having
everyone owe you for past unselfishness can be a good hedge against future calamities".
Seems, as if the difference between some altruistic “charities” and Marxian capitalists’
compulsion of humans to “increase their relative surplus value” is not as significant... The
vampire bat after extracting blood from its prey may return to its cave to regurgitate some
food for a friend who has had less luck that night. By sharing the leftovers of his feast, the
altruistic bat increases the chances that the friend it helped will help him out later on in its
own time of need. The same goes for humans.
How does a person know that his efforts and good deeds will be retaliated? The most
confident way is to behave prosocialy when somebody else is watching. Performing Prosocial
behavior in the presence of spectators, according to Costly-Signaling Theory (Zahavi, 1975),
benefits both the "signaler" by increasing his social value and the observer, because the
signals provide him with useful social information. According to Grafen (Grafen, 1990),
altruism as a costly signal might be an evolutionary stable strategy. Costly-signaling (also
called "The Competitive Altruism") Theory supporters (Parks & Vu, 1994; McAndrew, 2002;
Zahavi & Zahavi, 1997) claim that there are several conditions that must be met in order for
competitive altruism to emerge: the behavior must be costly for the author to display in the
short run, it must be easily observable to others, the signal must be a reliable indicator of
some underlying trait or characteristic of the signaler and finally, the behavior must be in the
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long run benefit the actor who displays it. Religious people are signaling the world about
their altruism because they want God to like them, conformal people are signaling because
"that's the way descent people behave" and public approval is significantly important for non-
confident people, who are signaling in order to improve their rigid self-esteem. The signaling
is indeed costly in the short run, but the benefit in the end is not bad as well, whether it is the
eternal life for Catholic, public approval for conformist or self-esteem boosting applause
from the society for a person who seeks for it.
People compete each with other in "being generous", because the "halo" of an altruist might
produce long-term benefits. Moreover, Gintis et al. (2001) suggest, that "well-known
altruists" have an advantage over "common" people when violating social norms as well,
since the society feels that certain level of equilibrium has to be gained in order to sustain
collective well-being, it might be more forgiving when penalizing an altruist. It is a well-
known fact, that generous deeds in the past might macerate the level of punishment in the law
court and soften a verdict. Signaling prosocial quality and reciprocity is a socially worthy
phenomenon of evolutionary development.
The Religiosity Paradox

Religious altruists are motivated to altruism from a belief in supernatural powers capable of
rewarding altruism and punishing defection (Bulbulia, 2004). Supernatural rewards may be in
kind: do good and good will be done to you. One of the most valuable traits of a religious
person is a charity giving. Maimonides (Rambam), a Jewish Rabbi, Physician and
Philosopher, one of the most important, acknowledged and respected personalities of the
Jewish world and the medieval Spain as well, enumerated the forms of charity, from the
greatest to the most weak:
1. Giving charity anonymously to the unknown recipient
2. Giving charity anonymously to the known recipient
3. Giving charity publicly to the unknown recipient
4. Giving charity publicly to the known recipient…
Obviously, the idea is that the anonymousness and the sincerity of the contribution is the
highest trait. "Bis Dat Qui Cito Dat" –"The one who gives quickly, gives twice", states the
old Latin proverb. One of the basic ideas of Jewish prosociality is the custom of "anonymous
charity" or "‫ "מתן בסתר‬in Hebrew. The great philosopher recognized the beneficial aspect of
giving and tried to educate the people to contribute those who need it without thinking of
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personal interest. If Jewish tradition and heritage specifically underlines the importance of
anonymous charity, why religious Jewish participants tend to be more "public" than the
secular participants? Why already well-known (religious) Jewish millionaire stipulates his
20-million dollar contribution to the national library by naming it after him? Secular values of
self-advertisement and the "celebrity halo" have not skipped the religious community. The
"material world" that Madonna sings about demands not to "waste" our resources, but to
invest them; not to give but to barter; not to donate but to sell. Sadly, the famous singer that
enthusiastically draws the traditional ancient knowledge of Cabbala forgets the simple but
very important nuance of Judaism, while adopting African orphans "online" and declaring
about her multi-million contribution to Africa via TV talk shows in prime time. However,
wouldn't it be hypocritical if we ask her to stick to Jewish morale when more and more
people among us consider a donation to be a part of advertisement budget?
Apparently, simply being “religious” in itself does not correlate well with helping behaviour
or compassion for those in need. The real paradox is not the extraordinary high levels of
religious "public altruists", but the common belief in purity of religious people's intentions.
The Nature of Altruism: Intentional "Greediness" or Evolutionary Survival Mechanism?

The "impure" altruistic human behavior might be perceived as intentionally targeted towards
future profit. However, such an assumption requires a rational perception of human nature.
Therefore, the discussion about humans' awareness of the goals of their own prosocial
behavior rooted in a philosophic dispute about the rationality of a human mind.
John Locke, an important British philosopher, defines a man as "industrious and rational
individual" who is able to "self-rule". The rationality, according to Locke, is the essence of
humanity and ratio is the "appendix" that distinct between humans and animals. Major
monotheistic religions underline the difference between divine law, whether it is Moses',
Jesus' or Mohammed's, and the laws of nature, polarizing mind and instinct, the human and
the bestial, the cerebral and the instinctive behavior.
Thomas Hobbes, another great British philosopher, presents much more ambivalent
relationship between rationality and emotionality – he claims, that emotional mechanisms
effecting human tasks. Emotional behaviors are different from the rational ones but they are
not in complete conflict. The famous "Homo Homini Lupus" (Man is a Wolf to Man),
adopted by Hobbes from Roman philosopher Platus, symbolizes Hobbes' perception of
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human nature – egoistic and selfish, serving only its own interest, however not intentionally
beneficial but rather "natural".
When trying to apply Locke's rational and Hobbes' emotional-egoistic model of human nature
to the perception of altruism, the subjectivity of the answer to the initial question of this
chapter clarifies. If man is rational, he understands the reciprocal aspect of altruism, performs
logical calculations of "investments", benefits of his prosociality and acts altruistically when
it's "worth" it. If man is egoistic and selfish but less rational, prosocial behavior is just a
genetic evolutionary mechanism of survival, coping with life and gaining well-being. The
answer apparently is "in the eye of the beholder".
"Evolution of Cooperation" – The Game Theory

The classical Game Theory studies decisions made by humans under conditions of situational
uncertainty. Games like "Prisoner's Dilemma" present an apparent conflict between morality
and self-interest; the surprising fact is that certain level of cooperation between the players is
essential for winning and contributes to self-interest. Purely egoistic approach is doomed to
failure; flexibility is the preferred tactics for winning. The idea that certain levels of altruism
are necessary for survival and success is proved mathematically by several scientists almost
eighty years ago (Von Neumann, J. & Morgenstern, O., 1928). Allegedly conflictive with
pure Darwinian framework that supposes competition for resources as a zero - sum game
(one's benefit is necessarily somebody else's loss), CST and its logical predecessor, the Game
Theory, present an approach that is coherent with the evolutionary mechanisms.
Psychological Egoism
The philosophical view that humans are always motivated by rational self-interest, even in
what seems to be purely altruistic behavior is called "Psychological Egoism" (example of
somebody holding such a view would be Aristotle or Thomas Hobbes). It claims that when
sane people choose to help others, it is because of the personal benefits they obtain, or expect
to obtain, directly or indirectly, from doing so. When being asked what the benefit of a
soldier is when he is jumping on a grenade in order to save his comrades' lives, the supporter
of the Psychological Egoism theory would respond, that it is soldier's way to avoid the pain
caused by seeing other soldiers dying. Avoiding pain might be a reason to perform an
altruistic act. In a broader way, avoiding negative reinforcements (such as public
denunciation) is a possible cause for giving a seat to the elder woman in a bus.
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Herbert Simon and the Bounded Rationality

Many economics models assume that people are "hyperrational" and would never do
anything against their interests. Simon (1957) states, that people rather heuristic and not
purely rational, they are behaving emotionally when the rational optimization is too
complicated to calculate. Simon's hypothesis supported by both Daniel Kahneman (2003) and
Ariel Rubinstein (1998), Israeli world-known economists, who claim that the pure rationality
could not be considered as a human trait, it is rather "bounded" by the emotions.
Is it Good to be good?
"Many illnesses can be cured by one medicine of love and compassion", says Dalai Lama.
The question whether it is good to be an altruist is occupying researchers from various fields
lately. The following studies present unambiguous results:
- In the recent research that examined the effects of giving and receiving (Brooks, A.J.,
Reece, K., Schwartz, G.E., Nangle, G.), receivers experienced a significantly greater decrease
in emotional state than givers as a result of life difficulties.
- Volunteering correlates positively to good well-being and self-reported health
(Piliavin J.A, 2005).
- About 95% of altruistic volunteers who helped 9/11 tragedy victims reported better
health status compared to others of the same age (Luks, A., 2002). Helping proved effective
decreasing diseases such as obesity, sleeplessness, acid stomach, headaches and backaches,
depression, colds and flu, arthritis, asthma and even cancer and coronary artery decease.
Seems, that acts of generosity, whether they performed with pure or impure intentions,
improve our well-being. The circular logic of altruism (if a person willingly performs an act,
he probably derives personal enjoyment from it, therefore people only perform acts that give
them personal enjoyment) will probably continue occupying philosophers. However,
regardless of its underlying motives, seems that an altruistic act improves the well-being of
both the giver and the receiver.
Drawbacks and "weak points" of the current study

1. Since no manipulation of public and private conditions was performed in the current
study, the data according the behavioral patterns of the participants are based on self-
reports, which might introduce self-presentational biases
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2. The "Religiosity" variable has a relatively low variance among the participants. Only
two participants were highly religious (gained scores of 41 and 38 in Religiosity test );
according to RCI-10 religiosity questionnaire authors, scores of 38 and above allow
such a classification. Since my "social circle" includes mostly secular and moderately
religious people only, it decreases the internal heterogeneity of the sample. Higher
religiosity level variance in future researches would improve the validity of the
research by decreasing the possibility of random variance between the participants.
Including ultra-orthodox Jews in future research might strengthen the mediation of
conformity variable between religiosity and prosociality as a result of religious
conformity.
3. Various "intervening" variables could have been mediating the correlations.
Conformity levels depend on one's geographic origin – while some Eastern societies
consider individualism as a serious flaw, in contrary, conformity is associated with
weak character, inability to lead and perform in the Western society.
The Epilogue – Insights on Altruism in the new millennia and Suggestions for Future
Research
The research data was collected via self-report questionnaires and therefore the
presupposition of congruence between declared opinions and actual tendencies was necessary
in order to conclude from the results. However, the logical suggestion would be that at least
some of the participants claimed to be more altruistic than they actually are, since it is a
valuable social trait, respected and cherished by humankind…Is it indeed? Since the
participants (mostly young people) demonstrated a very low tendency towards "pure"
altruism while answering a questionnaire, their probable predisposition towards altruistic
behavior might be even lower than they stated. What we observe might be a devaluation of
"old" social norms that the modern Israeli society is experiencing nowadays: the weakening
of family values followed by high divorce rate, the decrease of youngsters' motivation to
volunteer to army service, the increasing gap between numbers of people in need and welfare
expenditures of the national budget… Future research concerning the "modernity" and the
"sex-appeal" of altruistic values is necessary in order to understand the results of the current
study properly. If altruism is considered as archaic, obsolete and unnecessary trait, the results
might present an authentic picture of young people's views and Costly-Signaling Theory's
view of prosociality might be revaluated.
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Another unresolved question is the validity of the evolutionary view of humans. Whether the
data provided by the participants was an actual capture of their personal traits and opinions or
just a bunch of "wannabe" qualities, the evolutionary approach supported by CST sees the
humans as "impure" altruists. The question is, whether the evolutionary-biological point of
view is still applicable for inhabitants of the western society. The strength of interpersonal
connections is weakening in some of the western countries, more and more people no longer
define themselves as group participants, the symbiotic existence, so necessary in the past, is
not a necessity anymore. Online learning, shopping, gaming and even dating allows humans
to sustain more or less "normal" existence without leaving their homes. The modern man
sees, hears and runs much worse than his ancient predecessor because he does not need to
survive in a jungle anymore; his peer's importance in his life is practically meaningless.
Probably, the cooperation between Australian aborigines, whether it is reciprocal or pure-
hearted, differs drastically from the cooperation between North-American software
engineers…We loose our connection with the nature with every step of modernization. Can
we still call ourselves "social animals"? The dimensions of the "unsocialization" define the
necessity or the "unnecesstiy" of interaction in general and prosocial behavior in particular.
Investigating the correlation between the modernization and prosociality might present a
gloomy picture of the future.
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Ph. D. dissertation, University of Chicago.
Kohlberg, L. (1973). The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Judgment.
Journal of Philosophy 70, pp. 630-646.
Kruger, D. J. (2003). Evolution and Altruism: Combining Psychological Mediators with

Naturally Selected Tendencies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, pp. 118-125.
Lee, Y-T., Norasakkunkit, V, Liu, Li, Zhang, J, & M. Zhou (2005). Taoist altruism
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Lerner, J.S., & Taylor, S.E. (2003). Portrait of self-enhancer: well adjusted and well liked or
maladjusted and friendless? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 84 (1), pp.
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Lindbeck, A., & Nyberg, S. (2006). Raising children to work hard: altruism, work norms and
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Locke, J. 1975 (1689). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Oxford: Clarendon

Press.
Logan, M.H., Qirko, H.N. (1998). An evolutionary perspective on maladaptive traits and
cultural conformity. American Journal of Human Biology, Vol. 8 (5), pp. 615-629.
Maimonides (Rambam), Mishneh Torah, 1:14
Mayer, J.D., Caruso, D.R., & Salovey, P. (1999). Emotional intelligence meets traditional
standards for an intelligence. Unpublished Manuscript.
33
2007–12–24
Marx, K., The Capital, Vol. I, Part IV: Production of Relative Surplus Value, Chapter XII:
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McAndrew, F.T., (2002). New evolutionary perspectives on altruism: Multilevel–Selection

and Costly-Signaling Theories. Current Directions In Psychological Science, Vol.11 (2), pp.
79-82.
Mehrabian, A. (2005). Manual for the Conformity Scale. Retrieved from

http://www.kaaj.com/psych/scales/conform.html
Milgram, S. (1977). The Individual in a Social World: Essays and Experiments. Reading,
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Miller, Walter. (1958). Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency.
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Parks, C.D., & Vu, A.D. (1994). Social dilemma behavior of individuals from highly
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Pfeuffer, W. (2006). Religion as a seed crystal for altruistic cooperation. In Press.
34
2007–12–24
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35
2007–12–24
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clients: A model and its application to counseling. Journal of Counseling
Psychology, 35, pp. 166–174.
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Evolutionary Psychology. Vintage.
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Obesity, appearance and psychosocial adaptation in young American children. Journal of
Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 28 (7), pp. 463-572.
Zahavi, A. (1975). Mate selection - a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical

Biology, 53, pp. 205-214.
Zahavi, A. (1977). The cost of honesty (Further remarks on the handicap principle). Journal
of Theoretical Biology, 67, pp. 603-605.
Zahavi, A. and Zahavi, A. (1997). The handicap principle: a missing piece of Darwin's
puzzle. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
36
‫‪The Open University of Israel‬‬
‫‪Faculty of Social Sciences‬‬
‫‪BA Psychology Program Ψ‬‬
‫‪2007–12–24‬‬
‫‪igreenblat@yahoo.com‬‬
‫‪Appendixes‬‬
‫‪Appendix I: The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) 10-item self-identification‬‬

‫‪scale‬‬
‫אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מן המוצעות‪ ,‬שמתארת את עמדתכם\עמדתכן בצורה המדויקת ביותר כלפי כל‬
‫טענה‪ .‬סמנו ‪ V‬במשבצת המתאימה‪:‬‬
‫נכון לחלוטין‬ ‫נכון במידה‬ ‫נכון במידה‬ ‫נכון במידה‬ ‫כלל לא נכון‬
‫רבה‬ ‫בינונית‬ ‫מועטה‬
‫אמונותיי הדתיות מהוות בסיס לגישתי‬
‫לחיים‬
‫אני משתדל\ת להקדיש זמן לשיפור הבנת‬
‫אמונתי הדתית‬
‫חשוב לי להקדיש זמן למחשבות והרהורים‬
‫בנושאי הדת‬
‫אמונותיי הדתיות משפיעות על כל מעשי‬
‫חיי‬
‫הדת חשובה לי כי היא נותנת תשובות‬
‫לשאלות על משמעות החיים‬
‫אני מרבה לקרוא ספרים וירחונים בנושאי‬
‫הדת‬
‫אני נהנה\נהנית להשתתף בפעילות‬
‫חברתית של ארגון דתי‬
‫אני נהנה\נהנית מבילוי עם אלה שחולקים‬
‫את אמונתי הדתית‬
‫אני מתעניין\מתעניינת בקבוצה הדתית‬
‫שלי ומשתתף\משתתפת בהחלטותיה‬
‫אני תורם\תורמת כסף לארגון הדתי בו אני‬
‫תומך‬
‫‪.‬‬
‫‪37‬‬
‫‪2007–12–24‬‬
‫‪Appendix II: Mehrabian's 11-item conformity scale‬‬
‫אנא השתמשו באחת מהאפשרויות הבאות כדי להעריך את מידת הסכמתכם או אי‪-‬הסכמתכם עם הטענות המוצעות‪.‬‬
‫רשמו את אחד המספרים בין ‪ +4‬לבין ‪ -4‬במשבצת הריקה משמאל לטענה‪ .‬נסו להתייחס לכל טענה בצורה כללית‪,‬‬
‫כלומר להביא את עמדתכם בנושא הרחב ולא איך שהייתם מתנהגים במצב מסוים או איך שהייתם מקווים‬
‫שתתנהגו‪:‬‬
‫מסכים\מסכימה במידה מוחלטת‬ ‫‪+4‬‬

‫מסכים\מסכימה במידה רבה‬ ‫‪+3‬‬
‫מסכים\מסכימה במידה מסוימת‬ ‫‪+2‬‬
‫מסכים\מסכימה במידה מועטה‬ ‫‪+1‬‬
‫אין לי דעה בנושא‬ ‫‪0‬‬
‫לא מסכים\מסכימה במידה מועטה‬ ‫‪-1‬‬
‫לא מסכים\מסכימה במידה מסוימת‬ ‫‪-2‬‬
‫לא מסכים\מסכימה במידה רבה‬ ‫‪-3‬‬
‫לא מסכים\מסכימה במידה מוחלטת‬ ‫‪-4‬‬
‫אני בדרך כלל מסתמך\מסתמכת על עצות הזולת ונוהג\נוהגת על פיהם‬
‫אני אהיה האחרון\האחרונה שישנה את עמדתי בנושא שנוי במחלוקת לאחר ויכוח‬
‫ברוב המקרים אעדיף לוותר ‪,‬להמשיך הלאה ו"לשמור על השלום"‪ ,‬ולא להיאבק על דרכי‬
‫אני נצמד\נצמדת אל מסורת משפחתית בנושא תמיכה במפלגה פוליטית‬
‫חברי הם לרוב אלה שמחליטים מה אנחנו נעשה יחד‬
‫אדם כריזמטי הנואם ברהיטות יכול בקלות להשפיע עלי ולשנות את עמדותיי‬
‫אני יותר עצמאי\עצמאית בדרכיי התנהגותי מאשר מתאים\מתאימה את עצמי להתנהגות הזולת‬
‫אם מישהו\מישהי נשמע\נשמעת מאוד משכנע‪/‬ת‪ ,‬אני נוטה לשנות את דעתי בעקבותיו\בעקבותיה‬
‫אני לא מוותר\מוותרת בקלות‬
‫אני נוטה להסתמך על אחרים בקבלת החלטות חשובות‬
‫אני מעדיף\מעדיפה למצוא את דרכי האישית בחיים‪ ,‬ולא להתאים את עצמי לדרכה של קבוצה‬
‫‪38‬‬
‫‪2007–12–24‬‬
‫‪Appendix III: Rosenberg's self-esteem 10-item scale‬‬
‫אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מן המוצעות‪ ,‬שמתארת את עמדתכם\עמדתכן בצורה המדויקת ביותר כלפי כל‬
‫טענה‪ .‬סמנו ‪ V‬במשבצת המתאימה‪:‬‬
‫לא‬ ‫לא‬ ‫אין לי עמדה‬ ‫מסכים\מסכימה‬ ‫מסכים\מסכימה‬
‫מסכים\מסכימה‬ ‫מסכים\מסכימה‬ ‫בהחלט‬
‫בהחלט‬
‫לדעתי אני אדם ראוי‬
‫ובעל ערך לפחות כמו‬
‫האחרים‬
‫לדעתי יש לי מספר‬
‫תכונות חיוביות‬
‫בסך הכול אני‬
‫מרגיש\מרגישה שאני‬
‫כשלון‬
‫אני מסוגל\מסוגלת לבצע‬
‫משימות טוב כמו אנשים‬
‫אחרים‬
‫אני מרגיש\מרגישה שאין‬
‫לי כל כך במה להתגאות‬
‫אני נוקט\נוקטת בגישה‬

‫חיובית כלפי עצמי‬
‫בסך הכול‪ ,‬אני מרוצה‬

‫מעצמי‬
‫אני מרגיש\מרגישה‬
‫חסר\חסרת ערך לעיתים‬
‫הלוואי והיה לי יותר‬

‫הערכה לעצמי‬
‫לעתים אני חש\חשה‬

‫שאיני טוב\טובה כלל‬
‫וכלל‬
‫‪39‬‬
‫‪2007–12–24‬‬
‫‪Appendix IV: The Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) 23-item scale‬‬
‫אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מבין המוצעות‪ ,‬שמתארת אותכם בצורה המדייקת ביותר‪.‬‬
‫סמנו ‪ V‬במשבצת המתאימה‪:‬‬
‫לא מתאר‬ ‫מתאר‬ ‫מתאר‬ ‫מתאר‬ ‫מתאר‬

‫אותי כלל‬ ‫אותי‬ ‫אותי‬ ‫אותי טוב‬ ‫אותי‬
‫וכלל‬ ‫במקצת‬ ‫במידה‬ ‫מצוין‬
‫מסוימת‬
‫אני עוזר\עוזרת לאחרים כאשר אנשים מסתכלים עלי‬
‫ארגיש טוב אם אוכל לנחם אדם עצוב מאוד‬
‫כאשר ישנם אנשים מסביבי‪ ,‬קל לי יותר לעזור למי שזקוק‬
‫לדעתי‪ ,‬אחד הדברים הטובים בלעזור לאחרים זה שזה מציג‬

‫אותי באור חיובי‬
‫אני מפיק\מפיקה הכי הרבה מעזרה לאחרים‪ ,‬כאשר זה נעשה‬
‫לעיני אנשים‬
‫אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים שנמצאים בצרה או במשבר רציני‬
‫כאשר אנשים מבקשים ממני עזרה‪ ,‬אינני מתלבט\מתלבטת‬

‫לעולם‬
‫אני מעדיף\מעדיפה לתרום כסף בסתר‬
‫אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים שנפגעו בצורה קשה‬

‫אני מאמין\מאמינה‪ ,‬שצריך לתרום כסף או רכוש כאשר יש לי‬
‫תגמול לאחר המעשה‬
‫אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים בצרה כך‪ ,‬שלא ידעו מי עזר להם‬
‫אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים הנמצאים במצב רגשי במיוחד‬
‫כאשר אני עוזר\עוזרת והאחרים מסתכלים‪ ,‬אני‬
‫מצליח\מצליחה בצורה הכי טובה‬
‫קל לי לעזור לאנשים שנמצאים במצב רע‬
‫רוב הזמן אני עוזר\עוזרת לאנשים שלא יודעים שאני הוא\היא‬
‫זה\זו שעוזר\עוזרת להם‬
‫לדעתי‪ ,‬מגיע לי יותר על השקעת זמן ואנרגיה בעזרה לאחרים‬
‫‪40‬‬
‫‪2007–12–24‬‬
‫אני מגיב\מגיבה לבקשת עזרה בצורה המיטבית‪ ,‬כאשר‬

‫הסיטואציה טעונה רגשית‬
‫אני אף פעם לא מתמהמה להגיש עזרה לעזור כאשר מבקשים‬
‫ממני‬
‫לדעתי‪ ,‬עזרה בסתר הוא המצב הטוב ביותר‬
‫אחד הדברים הטובים בעבודה התנדבותית הוא‪ ,‬שזה נראה‬
‫טוב בקורות החיים שלי‬
‫מצבים אמוציונאליים גורמים לי לרצות לעזור לאדם בצרה‬
‫אני תורם\תורמת מבלי שאחרים יודעים כי זה עושה לי טוב‬
‫אני חושב\חושבת‪ ,‬שאם עזרתי למישהו‪ ,‬הוא חייב לעזור לי‬
‫בעתיד‬
‫‪41‬‬
2007–12–24
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to:
Dr, Gal Gorodeisky-Harpaz, the tutor of the current research
Gustavo Carlo, Professor of Psychology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln for
allowing me to use the Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) scale and
a great attitude towards my research
Everett L. Worthington Jr., Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth
University for allowing me to use the Religious Commitment Inventory -10
questionnaire
Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University of California in
Los Angeles for allowing me to use the Conformity scale
Dr. Florence Rosenberg, Professor Morris Rosenberg's wife, for giving me the
permission to use the Self-Esteem scale. Doctor Morris Rosenberg was professor of
Sociology at the University of Maryland from 1975 until 1992.
"Sociobiologists have broadened their range of selective stories by invoking concepts of

inclusive fitness and kin selection to solve the vexatious problem of altruism –
previously the greatest stumbling block to a Darwinian theory of social behavior.
Sociobiology represents an extension of basic Darwinism to a realm where it should
apply"
- Stephen Jay Gould,
Evolutionary Biologist
42

Altruism Research

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The Open University of Israel

Faculty of Social Sciences

A Good Samaritan Indeed? The Quest for non-

Research Seminar on Group Identification Course (10575)

Student Name: Igor Greenblat

Student ID Number: 308896638

Directed By: Dr. Gal Gorodeisky-Harpaz

THE RATIONALE OF CURRENT STUDY 4

APPENDIX I: THE RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT INVENTORY (RCI-10) 10-ITEM SELF-IDENTIFICATION SCALE 37

"We should often blush at our noblest deeds

Review of Prosocial Behavior Explanations – Classic Theories

development is characterized by egoistic and concrete cognitive patterns; mental

Predictions of a Costly-Signaling Theory

motivated by the pursuit of self-esteem, and therefore guided by an egoistic concern

Conformity level – conformity is a tendency to change perceptions, cognitions or behavior, in

Religion contributes to prosociality perceptions among Jewish population – high self-

The integrative model

Pearson Linear Correlation Coefficients

Interaction Hypothesis and Integrative Model Validation

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent Variable: pub

119 2246.000 Corrected Total

Main effects: Religiosity – F (1,114) =12.555; PV=0.001

Conformity – F (1,114) =8.023; PV=0.05

Evaluating the Results

Altruism as a Costly Signal

The Religiosity Paradox

The Nature of Altruism: Intentional "Greediness" or Evolutionary Survival Mechanism?

"Evolution of Cooperation" – The Game Theory

Herbert Simon and the Bounded Rationality

Drawbacks and "weak points" of the current study

Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a

Bandura, A. (1978a). Reflections on self-efficacy. Advances in Behavioral Research and

Coultas, J.C. (2004). When in Rome… An evolutionary perspective on Conformity. Group

Feinstein, L. (2000). The relative economic importance of academic, psychological and

Gabard, G.O., & Shapira, Y. (1994). A Reconsideration of Altruism From an Evolutionary

Holder, A. (1995). Anna Freud's contribution to the psychoanalytic theory of development.

James, W. (1890). Principles of psychology. New York: Henry Holt.

Kruger, D. J. (2003). Evolution and Altruism: Combining Psychological Mediators with

Locke, J. 1975 (1689). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Oxford: Clarendon

Maimonides (Rambam), Mishneh Torah, 1:14

McAndrew, F.T., (2002). New evolutionary perspectives on altruism: Multilevel–Selection

Mehrabian, A. (2005). Manual for the Conformity Scale. Retrieved from

Neiman, F.D. (1998). Conspicuous consumption as wasteful advertising: a Darwinian

Rosenberg, M., & McCullough, B.C. (1981). Mattering: Inferred significance

Saroglou, V. (2006). Religion's Role in Prosocial Behavior: Myth or Reality? Psychology of

Shackelford, T.K. (2001). Self-esteem in marriage. Personality and Individual Differences,

Van Vugt, M. (2005). Evolutionary origins of leadership and followership. Unpublished

Worthington, E. L., Jr. (1988). Understanding the values of religious

Young-Hyman, D., Schlundt, D.G., Herman-Wenderoth, L., & Bozylinski, K. (2003).

Zahavi, A. (1975). Mate selection - a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical

‫‪Appendix I: The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) 10-item self-identification‬‬

‫‪Appendix II: Mehrabian's 11-item conformity scale‬‬

‫מסכים\מסכימה במידה מוחלטת‬ ‫‪+4‬‬

‫אני בדרך כלל מסתמך\מסתמכת על עצות הזולת ונוהג\נוהגת על פיהם‬

‫אני נצמד\נצמדת אל מסורת משפחתית בנושא תמיכה במפלגה פוליטית‬

‫חברי הם לרוב אלה שמחליטים מה אנחנו נעשה יחד‬

‫אני לא מוותר\מוותרת בקלות‬

‫אני נוטה להסתמך על אחרים בקבלת החלטות חשובות‬

‫‪Appendix III: Rosenberg's self-esteem 10-item scale‬‬

‫אני נוקט\נוקטת בגישה‬

‫בסך הכול‪ ,‬אני מרוצה‬

‫הלוואי והיה לי יותר‬