Sarah Watts, MS
WKPIC Doctoral Intern
Why do we do good things for others? Altruism is the concept of unselfish concern for the welfare of others. It turns out that we might be willing to do good things for others because we want to be the best at it!!! Herman, Englemann, and Tommasello (2019) found that even children engage in altruistic behavior more frequently when children were competing with other children for being selected to be part of a group.
References
Herrmann, E., Engelmann, J. M., & Tomasello, M. (2019). Children engage in competitive altruism. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 179, 176–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.11.008