Pathological Altruism—An Introduction

Oakley, Barbara; Knafo, Ariel; McGrath, Michael

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738571.003.0014

Cited by 45 publications

(52 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, our data also agree with findings on fear behaviors in these same BLA-damaged subjects, who show acute unconditioned fear hypervigilance (an affective-impulsive behavior), whereas fear conditioning (an instrumental fear learning behavior) is impaired (15). * From a learning perspective, the generosity in the trust game of our BLA-damaged subjects might be considered pathological altruism (39), in the sense that inborn altruistic behaviors have not, due to BLA damage, been unlearned through negative social experience (24)(25)(26)(27).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Generous economic investments after basolateral amygdala damage

Honk

Eisenegger

Terburg

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Contemporary economic models hold that instrumental and impulsive behaviors underlie human social decision making. The amygdala is assumed to be involved in social-economic behavior, but its role in human behavior is poorly understood. Rodent research suggests that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) subserves instrumental behaviors and regulates the central-medial amygdala, which subserves impulsive behaviors. The human amygdala, however, typically is investigated as a single unit. If these rodent data could be translated to humans, selective dysfunction of the human BLA might constrain instrumental social-economic decisions and result in more impulsive social-economic choice behavior. Here we show that humans with selective BLA damage and a functional central-medial amygdala invest nearly 100% more money in unfamiliar others in a trust game than do healthy controls. We furthermore show that this generosity is not caused by risk-taking deviations in nonsocial contexts. Moreover, these BLA-damaged subjects do not expect higher returns or perceive people as more trustworthy, implying that their generous investments are not instrumental in nature. These findings suggest that the human BLA is essential for instrumental behaviors in socialeconomic interactions.economic trust | altruism

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Generous economic investments after basolateral amygdala damage

Honk

Eisenegger

Terburg

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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show abstract

“…However, there is a small group of pathologically altruistic children who rate high on altruistic behavior but low on self-actualizing behavior such as showing pleasure at success or doing something on their own. For such children, a psychological cost can arise even at an early age, as shown by high scores in emotional symptoms, including unhappiness, worries, fear, nervousness, and somatization (16).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism

Oakley

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The profound benefits of altruism in modern society are self-evident. However, the potential hurtful aspects of altruism have gone largely unrecognized in scientific inquiry. This is despite the fact that virtually all forms of altruism are associated with tradeoffs-some of enormous importance and sensitivity-and notwithstanding that examples of pathologies of altruism abound. Presented here are the mechanistic bases and potential ramifications of pathological altruism, that is, altruism in which attempts to promote the welfare of others instead result in unanticipated harm. A basic conceptual approach toward the quantification of altruism bias is presented. Guardian systems and their over arching importance in the evolution of cooperation are also discussed. Concepts of pathological altruism, altruism bias, and guardian systems may help open many new, potentially useful lines of inquiry and provide a framework to begin moving toward a more mature, scientifically informed understanding of altruism and cooperative behavior.Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.-Richard Feynman

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“…altruism or empathy taken to an extreme, has been hypothesized to contribute to burnout and depression among health care providers. 4 In fact, over the past few years there have been alarming reports of high rates of burnout among practicing clinicians and trainees. As a result, more attention has been focused on the importance of physician well-being.…”

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confidence: 99%

Altruism and Medical Practice

Feldman

2017

J GEN INTERN MED

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Pathological Altruism—An Introduction

Cited by 45 publications

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Generous economic investments after basolateral amygdala damage

Generous economic investments after basolateral amygdala damage

Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism

Altruism and Medical Practice

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