own—plays a much larger role in one
than the other.The Roots of Altruism
Garden-variety altruism—French
philosopher Auguste Comte coined
the word in 1830, deriving it from
vivre pour autrui, “to live for other
people”—is driven by empathy, which
children become capable of by age
two, when they’re able to perceive
others’ distress. That’s a prerequisite
for offering help, which most toddlers
the world over do even when it brings
them no tangible benefit.
The early emergence of empathy
and altruism suggests that humans are
genetically wired for such proto-
altruism, but the wiring can last or
wither depending on the culture where
a child grows up. A classic examina-
tion of six cultures (Kenya, the island
of Okinawa, India, the Philippines,
Mexico, US), published in 1975, found
that all the elementary-school-age
children studied in Kenya behavedreason for the altruism,” meaning
unselfish actions undertaken to
reduce the suffering or enhance the
well-being of others at some cost to
the self. “There’s a lot of suspicion of
people who want to donate a kidney to
a stranger.”
Psychologists, in contrast, aren’t
exactly suspicious of extreme
altruism, or “X-altruism,” which is
defined as unselfish caring for the
well-being of strangers to the detri-
ment of oneself. But they do view it
the way ornithologists do a mandarin
duck (home turf: East Asia) in New
York’s Central Park: as so outside the
norm that it requires explanation.
Among the key findings from brain
imaging and lab experiments are
that X-altruism has two forms, one
impulsive and one considered. Impul-
sive X-altruism is rescuing two girls
being threatened by a knife-wielding,
Muslim-insulting man on a com-
muter train (in Portland, Oregon;
May 2017) and dying as a result.
It’s jumping onto subway tracks to
save a woman who fell. It’s pulling
strangers from burning cars, as
recipients of the Carnegie Medal for
extraordinary civilian heroism have.
Considered X-altruism manifests
itself not in spur-of-the-moment
actions but in thought-out ones such
as adopting 20 orphaned or aban-
doned children, or founding a leper
colony in a panther-filled wilderness,
as Larissa MacFarquhar recounts in
her 2015 book Strangers Drowning:
Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices,
and the Urge to Help. It’s repeatedly
parachuting into war zones as an
aid worker, as David Eubank has,
dodging sniper fire to rescue a young
girl who survived an ISIS massacre
in Iraq. It’s thinking hard, answering
the questions of doctors who suspect
you’re crazy, and still donating a
kidney to a stranger.
According to researchers, these
two varieties of X-altruism are driven
by different emotions and cognitive
processes, and empathy—experienc-
ing others’ distress as if it were your
HOW TO
CARE DEEPLY
WITHOUT
BURNING
OUTLearn to
recognize
the signs of
empathy fatigue
and maintain
a balanced,
mindful,
compassionate
response.
mindful.org/
care-deeply/m
brain science
34 mindful August 2019