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Predicting good behavior

By sciencetolife on January 21, 2007.

i-2929d9ea0a9d63f681ed13f040660511-1-21-07 altruism.jpg What drives people to do good things?

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered an area of the brain that determines whether people tend to be selfish or altruistic.

The researchers used a brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with a computer game that engaged participants' altruistic behavior. In the computer game participants' success earned them money for a charity.

The study showed that increased activity in a region of the brain called the posterior superior temporal sulcus strongly predicted a person's likelihood for altruistic behavior.

The origins of altruistic behavior are not fully understood.

According to the researchers "although understanding the function of [the posterior superior temporal sulcus] may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa, it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviors like altruism."

This region of the brain is involved in how we perceive and deal with social responsibility. Studying it is important not only because of what can be learned about altruism but also because it can help decipher disorders like autism and antisocial behavior.

Results of the study will be published in the February 2007 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience

By. Karen Ventii

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Great site Karen. Great picture too!!!

Brings to mind something I just read in the lastest issue of Scientific American:

Keeping Money in Mind Makes People Less Helpful
"When money is on the brain, people become disinclined to ask for help when faced with a difficult or even an impossible puzzle, Vohs and her colleagues report in this week's issue of Science. They tried to work on the task by themselves, she explains. Eventually most did ask for help--it just took them longer to come around. People who think, even subconsciously, about money are also less helpful than others, the researchers say."

I enjoyed reading all of your posts. They were on interesting topics and were concisely written. I look forward to more good posts.

Cool blog. I'll be back. And it's fascinating to think that different degrees of altruism may be hard-wired. (I'm curious: Do researchers have any ideas as to whether the wiring is acquired or genetic?)

But please, please, everybody: Can we stop using Mother Theresa as an example of perfect selflessness and altruism? Even if you don't have problems with organized religion in general or the Catholic Church in particular, Mother Theresa is a seriously problematic figure, with some profound flaws in her supposed humanitarianism. Among other things, she didn't provide painkillers at her hospices -- she believed that suffering was a gift from God, and that the suffering of the poor was beautiful and noble -- and the medical care provided at her facilities was substandard at best. She also supported the brutal Haitian dictator Duvalier, and accepted donations from Charles Keating -- donations she refused to return when it was pointed out to her that the money had been acquired fraudulently and belonged to the people from whom it had been stolen.

I could go on and on; for more info, read Hitchen's book "The Missionary Position," or just google "Mother Theresa" + "Christopher Hitchens." (Hitchens isn't her only critic, btw -- he's just the most visible one.) I'll stop before this turns into a full-fledged rant -- but the more you find out about Mother Theresa, the more creeped out you get, and we really need a better example of famous selflessness and altruism than her.

Response to Greta:
That's a good point. The researchers do not really address whether the neural connections associated with altruism are acquired or genetic. Here is the paper in Nature Neuroscience. I'm sure, however, that as with most things genetics and environment both play a role in the development of altruistic behavior.