[7] Why some people are more altruistic than others?

Abigail Marsh talks about extraordinary altruism and people who care more about others than about themselves.

Click here to watch the talk

When Abigail was 19 years old, she had a car accident. Some stranger stopped his car and helped her, saving her life. Years after that she became a psychologist and she researched on the phenomenon of extraordinary altruism. 

She says, that people believe that they are selfish by nature. So why some of them risk their lives for others? Is it also nature? Abigail started to test psychopacts in search of some characteristic features of their brains. She discovered that psychopaths have problem with recognising the expression of fear on other people's faces. It is connected with a part of their brains, called amygdala, which is responsible for it. Altruists, on the other hand, are the opposite: they have better ability to see someone's fear, and their amygdala is bigger than average person's. 

As a summary she says that it is the matter of nature that some people are more likely to be altruistic than others, but we all can develop this feature in our lives. 

Vocabulary:

gnawing - continuously uncomfortable, worrying or painful

- After four days without the food, we felt gnawing hunger. We were starving.

- I feel gnawing pain in my head. I can't stand it!

dart out - to move quickly of sometihng/ towards something

- Our dog darted out at the cat. It almost catched our furry friend!

- The mouse darted out of its mousehole, because it smeeled cheese.

swerve - to suddenly change direction

- The driver swerved to avoid the pedestrian on the street.

- I had to swerve because I saw a dog darting out at me.

welfare - help given to people of need (especially money from the government)

- Immigrants received welfare from our country, because they lived in poverty.

- Welfare was given to the poorest famillies as a help for upcoming Christmas.

innermost - most sercet and hidden

- In this diary I write my innermost dreams. I do not want anyone to know about them.

- No one knows my innermost desires. I am the only one.

ludicrous - stupid or unreasonable 

- I consider blood donation ludicrous. Why should I share my internal goods with strangers?

- I find it ludicrous to keep a mouse in cage. It only eats, sleeps and makes noise. What a stupid animal...

Sources of pictures: 1,

Sources of definitions: 1, 2,