Alturism

Monday afternoon at CSU-Chico, I attended a free lecture presented by Dr. Dan Worthin on the topic of altruism. I had no understanding or idea what that word meant. Alturism by definition is the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others.

Dan Worthin was a psychologist and co-author. Andy Flesher the other co-author could not attend tonight’s function so Dan would talk about altruism from his point of view. Even though, two minds are better than one. Dan did a wonderful job expressing his point and not knowing a lot about altruism. In which I found it astonishing.

Dan worked with animals while practicing psychology. He expressed this throughout his lecture threw examples to help confirm his deduction. In his first example, he established that that the feeding of adult bats was not out of their own self need but rather to help feed their young and others which did not get any. He called this ‘reciprocal altruism,’ where it’s the concept of you share I share. In order to benefit the whole, rather than one’s self.

The second example involved the use of squirrels. He established that squirrels notify others when danger is near. This is apparently true if your around squirrels for any period of time. I find this to be true because squirrels are constantly running around my house. I can hear them squawk and stomp their feet in order to signal others. I thought that this was a defensive measure to let us know don’t mess with us, but rather its more of a warning to others around. Dan called this ‘self-sacrificing.’ Which make sense because they care for other more than themselves.

The lecture that Dan gave on altruism was very informative and insightful. In knowing what the word means is not enough which was expressed by Dan Worthin.  Understanding that its in nature’s way that the benefits of everyone is better than the benefit of personal gain. Now only if everyone would live like this, world hunger would not exist.