Practice question · Multiple choice
A donor says helping makes them feel good. Does that show the act was really self-interested?
Hints
- Ask whether an effect of an action can be distinguished from its motive.
- If every helpful act counts as selfish because it feels good, what observation could ever show altruism?
Show the answer
A. No, feeling good afterwards is compatible with having wanted it
Why
Consequence and motive are different things, and the pleasure follows from getting what you wanted, which was the other person's welfare. The version that counts all helping as selfish explains every possible observation and forbids none, which is why Batson's escape design matters: it finds a case where the two accounts finally disagree.
Practise Prosocial Behavior: Altruism and the Roots of Helping
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