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Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

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Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#81

Post by AlwaysRock »

Trasmatta wrote: post #2

Having a higher than average amount of empathy seems to be a disadvantage in many ways. It seems in many cases to be correlated with anxiety and depression. It can be difficult for people with high levels of empathy to recognize the boundaries between their own self and the thoughts and feelings of others. As a kid I was highly empathetic, and it's something I've struggled with my entire life. It never really felt li…

It can be good and bad. Having a high amount of empathy but being able to control your reaction can be very helpful. You can adapt to how others are reacting much better than folks with low empathy.

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#82

Post by floor2 »

cletus wrote: post #16

Quoted post unavailable.

That's just plain old-fashioned bigotry. Literally every culture on Earth has had some form of "never trust a " where the blank was whatever race, religion, nationality, tribe, ethnicity, etc was their neighbor or rival.

Most people would treat it as a shameful thing from a bygone era if they had a grandparent tell them "never trust a ", it's quite unfortunate that you seem to agree with this sort of nationalistic bias and bigotry.

Also, the US spends over a trillion dollars per year on the safety net. The federal budget for giving food to low-income people is $60 Billion per year, medicaid (free health insurance for non-working people) is $670 Billion per year, $51 Billion on housing assistance. There is also unemployment benefits if you're laid off, and you can keep the health insurance from your former employer or switch to a plan from healthcare.gov (which will be subsidized by tax payers if you can't afford to pay the premium). It's not a perfect system, but it's ridiculous to pretend there is "no safety net" when there is in fact an incomprehensibly large safety net.

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#83

Post by yboris »

A bit off-topic, but any discussion of altruism these days I bring up effective altruism - a movement of people focusing on effective ways of helping as much as possible (within any specific area, and focusing on finding the most-important areas of focus). These individuals (myself included) often give at least 10% of their income (see https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/). I really hope more people join in on the global movement:

https://www.effectivealtruism.org/

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#84

Post by layer8 »

loa_in_ wrote: post #12
layer8 wrote: post #4

Regarding empathy, there’s also an argument that it tends to be significantly biased, and that rational compassion is preferable for decision-making: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Empathy

Decision making when? In what conditions? Do those conditions ever change?

When making decisions on moral grounds, and regarding altruistic actions. For example, seeing a picture of a single child suffer tends to induce relatively more empathy than seeing a picture of a whole family or town suffer. (That’s why you predominantly see the former in charity ads.) With rational compassion, it would be rather the converse. Having empathy with a group one is close to (in thought/space/time) also tends to make people more willing to inflict harm on a group that is more removed from them, while rational compassion would try to avoid such a subjective bias.

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#85

Post by 1tao »

SpodGaju wrote: post #75
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I can appreciate a well crafted burn as much as the next guy, that was really taking the long way around.

Not a burn, it was effortless empathy. :)

Self is realized through selflessness :)

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#86

Post by nonrandomstring »

Trasmatta wrote: post #30
nonrandomstring wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't numb it, master it and let it lead under control. Empathy is an incredible virtue, but it must be disciplined. I don't know enough neuroscience to know what the "right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" is exactly but I know that you can over-ride/master it with reason and discipline. So I think there's something more to people allowing their better nature to slip under stress than simple brain chemicals. A colone…

> Don't numb it, master it and let it lead under control Numbing it was never a conscious decision, it was an automatic learned response to pain after years / decades. Now that I'm more conscious of what's happening, I can begin to work with it, but personality traits like this are generally highly stable and resistant to change. Which isn't to say there's nothing that can be done about it, just that's challenging (a…

> personality traits like this are generally highly stable and resistant to change.

Yes. Impossible to change some would say. So my message was wear it with pride. There's a philosopher called Kierkegaard who would say that you can't be "cured" of what you are. And since empathy is a gift, instead make it a superpower. That happens when you control it instead of it controlling you. Good luck, and I hope your gift brings you great things.

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#87

Post by bitshiftfaced »

Trasmatta wrote: post #36
bitshiftfaced wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's probably true, but it's more about conscientiousness than empathy. If you're empathetic and lack conscientiousness, you have a great advantage in being able to "work" people. And you feel no guilt if things don't go well for them. On the other hand, you could be highly conscientious and lack empathy. You may try to do the right thing, but you feel guilt anyway because you're unable to understand why wh…

Hmmm, in my mind empathy isn't just cognitively understanding that somebody is feeling pain, it's feeling that pain on their behalf. Most people have that ability to some degree, but it's extremely magnified in certain individuals.

Yeah I tend to separate empathy (being able to put yourself in another's shoes and feel what they're feeling) and "other-oriented-ness". Having empathy means you understand what the driver behind you at the fast food restaurant is feeling emotionally if you take too long at the window. Being other-oriented is feeling stressed and wanting to move forward before you've completely checked your order, because you don't want the driver behind you to feel upset by your taking too long.

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#88

Post by cgriswald »

idontknowifican wrote: post #34
nonrandomstring wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't numb it, master it and let it lead under control. Empathy is an incredible virtue, but it must be disciplined. I don't know enough neuroscience to know what the "right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" is exactly but I know that you can over-ride/master it with reason and discipline. So I think there's something more to people allowing their better nature to slip under stress than simple brain chemicals. A colone…

Quoted post unavailable.

Imagine having direct experience with these things, genuinely sharing your hard-earned experience of what works for you in the language you have available to you, and then some third-party who doesn't know anything about you misrepresents your statement and then tells you to "shut the fuck up about mental health problems you don't have."

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#89

Post by nonrandomstring »

idontknowifican wrote: post #34
nonrandomstring wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't numb it, master it and let it lead under control. Empathy is an incredible virtue, but it must be disciplined. I don't know enough neuroscience to know what the "right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" is exactly but I know that you can over-ride/master it with reason and discipline. So I think there's something more to people allowing their better nature to slip under stress than simple brain chemicals. A colone…

Quoted post unavailable.

From TFA;

"While anger makes us certain in our righteous indignation, anxiety, and surprise make us unsure of what’s going on and what will happen next. And when we feel uncertain, we tend to fall back on what we know to be true — namely, our own perspectives and feelings"

Re: Altruism under stress: cortisol negatively predicts charitable giving

#90

Post by strombofulous »

idontknowifican wrote: post #34
nonrandomstring wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't numb it, master it and let it lead under control. Empathy is an incredible virtue, but it must be disciplined. I don't know enough neuroscience to know what the "right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" is exactly but I know that you can over-ride/master it with reason and discipline. So I think there's something more to people allowing their better nature to slip under stress than simple brain chemicals. A colone…

Quoted post unavailable.

"...and this is your brain on Twitter"
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