Motivation and Behavior

The contrast between self-interested and altruistic motivations is deceptively simple. As a first approximation, let us understand an altruistic motivation as the desire to enhance the welfare of others even at a net welfare loss to oneself, and an altruistic act as an action for which an altruistic motivation provides a sufficient reason. If I see you give money to a beggar in the street I call it an altruistic act because it is an action that could spring from altruistic motivations, whether or not it actually does.

For a more complex example, consider the experimental findings, discussed several times later, on “altruistic punishment.” In these studies, one subject A has the option of punishing another subject B for noncooperative behavior, at some cost to himself. There is no face-to-face interaction and the two subjects will never meet again. Yet many subjects use the punishment option, causing B to be more cooperative in his later dealings with a third party C. The punishment could spring from altruistic motivations, if A anticipates, and is motivated by, the benefit his punishment of B confers on C. In reality, it is more likely to be motivated by a desire for revenge.