Altruism - Steve Taylor Ph.D.
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majority of kidney transplants are from deceased individuals
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but in UK, over one third are from living donors
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most are from relatives of patients
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but 11% of them are ‘non-specified’ donors
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potential donors are rigorously screened to make sure that they are psychologically stable
reactive altruism
- most common type
- seeing suffering spurs action
proactive altruism (unconditional altruism)
- less common type
- more deep-rooted and unconditional compassion
self-righteous altruism
- motivated to feel good about yourself and/or to look good in other people’s eyes
transformational experiences that occur after intense psychological turmoil such as:
- diagnosis of cancer
- becoming disabled
- bereavement
- recovery from addiction
- depression or stress
- etc
after these experiences many people:
- go through a kind of spiritual awakening
- become more appreciative of life
- more intensely aware of world around them
- less materialistic
- more interested spiritually
- spend more time living in the present (rather than being focused on the future and the past)
- enjoy solitude and inactivity
- feel a powerful sense of contentment
- become much more altruistic
- stronger sense of connection to other people
- feel a strong impulse to try to alleviate other people’s suffering
- more likely to engage in reactive altruism
- feel strong impulse to do what is right to uphold universal moral principles (resulting to unconditional altruism)