Response to Tragedy
Highlights Human Altruism
Excerpt By Amy Norton, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The tales of self-sacrifice that keep surfacing since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon beg the question of how such behavior can co-exist with the basic instinct to survive. Researchers say that one explanation rests in the subconscious kinship people have for one another and the satisfaction that altruism brings both the giver and receiver.

Altruism, the concern for the welfare of others, is a complex human characteristic, according to researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Writing in the September 28th issue of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, they note that altruism is seen in animals, in their sacrifice for the sake of their young.

But for humans, the sense of caring for others goes beyond this instinctual drive to see their offspring survive.

``If we regard all human beings to be our kin, our relatives, then it makes sense to help them--even if we sometimes lose our own lives,'' Dr. Beth Seelig explained in an interview with Reuters Health.

This view of humanity as being a family of sorts has more than instinctual roots, according to Seelig. Life experiences and social relationships also contribute to a ``uniquely human'' form of altruism. Even small children show this in actions such as trying to comfort their mothers when they are upset, Seelig said.

``They've learned this from being comforted themselves and knowing how good it feels,'' she explained.

And helping others also gives people a reason to feel good about themselves--a self-esteem boost Seelig described as normal, healthy and comforting. People who take jobs in which they routinely help others will often deny they are altruistic because they enjoy what they do, Seelig noted. But that pleasure does not diminish their altruism.

``A lot of firefighters will say, 'I'm not altruistic. It's just my job,''' Seelig said. ``Yes, but there are reasons you picked that job...and they are not always conscious reasons.''

That there is ``really good stuff'' in the human subconscious is one hopeful message to take from the recent tragic events, Seelig pointed out.

Along with the firefighters who rushed into the World Trade Center and the passengers on the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, she pointed to all the ``ordinary'' Americans who have scrambled to donate blood and volunteer to help in the aftermath.

``Look at all the people who are so frustrated when they can't do anything,'' she said. ``I think ordinary people are not so ordinary...but sometimes it takes a great tragedy to bring (this) out.''

SOURCE: Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 2001;49.

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