Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T05:02:12.261Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Altruism is a primary impulse, not a discipline

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2003

George Ainslie
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Coatesville, PA 19320 George.Ainslie@med.va.gov www.picoeconomics.com
Nick Haslam
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Intertemporal bargaining theory based on the hyperbolic discounting of expected rewards accounts for how choosing in categories increases self-control, without postulating, as Rachlin does, the additional rewardingness of patterns per se. However, altruism does not seem to be based on self-control, but on the primary rewardingness of vicarious experience. We describe a mechanism that integrates vicarious experience with other goods of limited availability.

Information

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press