Exploring the Mind | The Altruistic Urge: Using Brain Evolution to Predict and Improve Human Helping
When
Monday September 12, 2022: 6:00pm to 7:30pm Add to Calendar / Add to Google Calendar
Where
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Description
Ordinary people can perform astonishing acts of altruism, but what drives this behavior?
Under the right conditions, humans may altruistically assist someone in need, sometimes even heroically placing their very life on the line. For example, a pregnant woman saw a dorsal fin and blood in the water and dove right in to pull her wounded husband to safety. Even complete strangers sometimes provide life-saving aid, like the New York father who jumped into the subway tracks to save a young man who had fallen in front of an oncoming train. Similar behavior can also be observed in other species, suggesting that these strange acts of kindness may reflect our shared evolution and neurophysiology. This talk describes Dr. Preston’s theory of the “altruistic urge,” which explains our surprisingly powerful drive to help the vulnerable. The machinery that evolved to ensure that we safeguard our own offspring also motivates us to save complete strangers in similar situations (e.g., when the victim is helpless, distressed, and needs urgent aid that the observer can provide). Eye-catching dramatic rescues bear a striking similarity to how other caregiving mammals retrieve their young and can explain more mundane but important decisions to help other people, animals, and the earth with our money and time. If we understand what makes us want to help, we can promote care where it is most needed.
Dr. Stephanie D. Preston is a Professor of Psychology and director of the Ecological Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Michigan. She completed her MA and PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied the neurobiology of stress and decision making in non-human animals. Her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine studied emotion and decision making in neurotypical humans and patients with brain damage. Dr. Preston is interested in how emotion impacts decision making, including decisions about resources such as stuff, money, food, aid to other people, and the natural environment.
This program is in partnership with The University of Michigan Department of Psychology.
