Altruism as hedonism: Helping and self-gratification as equivalent responses.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test the proposition that for adults, altruism and self-gratification are functional equivalents. It was predicted on the basis of this proposition that the effects of mood state on altruism would be parallel to the effects of mood on self-gratification. In support of this prediction, three separate findings from the mood-altruism literature were paralleled in the present study's investigation of the effects of mood on self-gratification. Specifically, it was found that (a) self-gratification increased under conditions of happy or sad mood; (b) for subjects in a sad mood, altruistic activity canceled the enhanced tendency for self-gratification; and (c) for subjects in a happy mood, altruistic activity did not cancel the enhanced tendency for self-gratification. Discussion focuses on the convergent evidence from the altruism literature and self-gratification literature that adult altruism functions as self-reward.Cialdini and his associates (Cialdini, Darby, & Vincent, 1973;Cialdini & Kenrick, 1976; Cialdini, Kenrick, & Baumann, in press;Kenrick, Baumann, & Cialdini, 1979) have taken the position that adult altruism is a form of hedonism. In this view, benevolent activity has been conditioned via the socialization process to be self-gratifying; therefore, individuals often behave charitably in order to provide themselves with reward. For these researchers, affect has played a prominent role in documenting the case for altruism as self-gratification. In an initial article, Cialdini et al. (1973) argued for two propositions. First, on the basis of the results of prior studies, they maintained that a U-shaped relationship exists between temporary mood state and adult helping: Experiences likely to produce either happy or sad affective states in adults increase helping. Second, they proposed a negative state relief model to account for the direct relationship between sadness and benevolence: Helping increases under conditions of tern-Requests for reprints should be sent to

Moral licensing: a culture-moderated meta-analysis

“…having gained a moral license, leads to a boost in one's self-concept (Khan and Dhar (2006). This affirmative boost puts individuals in a positive mood, which in turn increases an individual's tendency for self-gratification seeking (Baumann et al 1981). Arguably, pro-social behavior, which benefits society, can be seen as self-rewarding as well.…”

“…Views on morality differ across cultures (Pew Research Center 2014), hence we assume an impact of culture on moral licensing. Building on self-gratification theory (Baumann et al 1981), we suggest that moral licenses have a bigger impact on self-rewarding than on society-related decisions. Due to the phenomenon of moral cleansing (Conway and Peetz 2012), contrasting a moral licensing group with a neutral control group should result in smaller effect sizes than the comparison with a group whose participants performed an immoral task.…”

Pleasure and pressure based prosocial motivation: Divergent relations to subjective well-being

“…The possibility that a prosocial orientation is motivated by the anticipation of positive affect (pleasure) is acknowledged by virtually all scholars in the field (e.g., Archer, Diaz-Loving, Gollwitzer, Davis, & Foushee, 1981;Batson, 1987;Baumann, Cialdini, & Kenrick, 1981;Cialdini et al, 1997;Harris, 1977;Schaller & Cialdini, 1988;Smith, Keating, & Stotland, 1989;Weiss, Buchanan, Alstatt, & Lombardo, 1971;Williamson & Clark, 1989). Following this research, we call the first motivation that underlies the prosocial personality ''pleasure based prosocial motivation''.…”

Investigating Meaningful Happiness and Wellbeing in College Students through a ‘Curriculum of Giving’ Outdoor Education Program

“…Alongside topics such as developing strengths, positive emotion, and resilience, recent movements within positive psychology have also highlighted additional fruitful constructs for study in outdoor contexts, such as giving. For example, studies have found that other-giving emotions and behaviours performed regularly are associated with feelings of happiness and life satisfaction (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2004), relieving negative states such as sadness and distress (Baumann, Cialdini, & Kendrick, 1981;Midlarsky, 1991), and promoting greater wellbeing, health, and longevity (Post, 2005;Schwartz, Keyl, Marcum, & Bode, 2009), where giving appears to be as potent as that of receiving for the giver (Brown, 2003;Brown, Nesse, Vinokur, & Smith, 2003;Schwartz et al, 2009). This research base supports evidence from service-learning approaches which have found that students exposed to meaningful community service experience increased empathy, altruism, and academic outcomes (Billig, 2000;Scales, Roehlkepartain, Neal, Kielsmeier, & Benson, 2006).…”