¶ … True Altruism Exist? The objective of this study is to analyze the work of Batson, et al., and Cialdini, et al. And to discuss whether true altruism exists.

Batson et al. entitled "Is Empathic Emotion a Source of Altruistic Motivation" published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1981) holds that true altruism does exist while the work of Cialdini, et al. entitled "Empathy-Based Helping: Is It Selflessly or Selfishly Motivated? Published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology" (1987) holds that true altruism does not exist.

It is the belief of Batson et al. that people assist others at time for reason that are purely altruistic and states specifically that the primary reason for altruism is that of 'empathy'. Cialdini et al. On the other hand do not believe that empathy is enough alone to motivate individuals to assist others but instead believe that individuals assist others because it makes them feel better themselves. This question is one that is important for social psychologists in the study of human behavior.

Batson et al. describe empathy as "the ability to experience someone else's feelings by imaging what it would be like to be in the same situation as another person." Batson et al. believe that when empathy is felt for another person...

Empathy is felt for someone when the individual is genuinely concerned for the well being of another and this results in the individual being more likely to assist the other for reasons that are altruistic in nature.
A different model is used by Cialdini et al. To explain assistive behavior in human beings. This model is referred to as the 'Negative State Relief Model'. This model involves individuals assisting others to avoid the negative feelings that they might experience if they were not helpful to others. Cialdini et al. states that the "…egoistic orientation of modern psychology should not be dismissed lightly; it has prevailed for decades, and it can easily account for what might appear to be altruistic motivation arising from empathic emotion." Cialdini states that one should imagine that they are seeing someone suffering and then ask themselves how they would feel to watch them suffer rather than to assist that person. Cialdini et al. holds that the individual's stress would be reduced if they assisted that person, and that the ultimate goal of their behavior would be to relieve the distress they were feeling at watching the other individual suffer.

Batson, et al. states that emotion results in "altruistic motivation,…