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Charity Begins in the Brain

Superlative anthroblogger John Hawks on a report we may be hardwired for altruism.  Speak for yourself! Sounds like Hawks has questions about that, too:

One of those impressively short brief communications in Nature Neuroscience by Dharol Tankersley et al. claims to have spotted a brain correlate of altruism:

Although the neural mechanisms underlying altruism remain unknown, empathy and its component abilities, such as the perception of the actions and intentions of others, have been proposed as key contributors. Tasks requiring the perception of agency activate the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC), particularly in the right hemisphere. Here, we demonstrate that differential activation of the human pSTC during action perception versus action performance predicts self-reported altruism.

I’m more interested in the “agency” part than the “altruism” part — there is so much ambiguity about how “altruism” should really be defined. In this case, the mental task involved playing a computer game for charity.

Topics: Uncategorized

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:48 pm on Monday, January 22, 2007

3 Responses to “Charity Begins in the Brain”

1. RebeccaH Says:
   January 22nd, 2007 at 6:47 pm

   I enjoy articles about body language and facial recognition (stemming from long-term curiosity about why the HELL people act the way they do), but frankly, the reference to was a little unnerving. Just sayin’.

2. RebeccaH Says:
   January 22nd, 2007 at 6:47 pm

   Oops. Supposed to be “the reference to Puce”

3. saltydog Says:
   January 23rd, 2007 at 5:25 am

   I didn’t find a single definition of altruism. Why do they deem any act or feeling of benevolence towards others as unselfish and altruistic. By what standard?

   Who’s funding this crap?

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