Table of contentsIntroductionAltruism in infancy and childhoodAltruism in adolescenceAltruism in adulthoodAltruism in old ageConclusionReferencesIntroductionAltruism is defined as the voluntary manner intended to benefit one or more people without expecting external rewards. Altruism in its simplest form can be explained as an action or behavior intended to benefit another person. Its origin comes from the French word “altruism” when translated into Latin “alteri” means other people or someone else where and August Comte being the first to coin this term. But how exactly do we understand altruism? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Two of the first theories proposed by evolutionists to understand such behavior came from the theory of kin selection, that is, the act of protecting one's own genes for the benefit of one's neighbor. generation by helping relatives and reducing their reproductive capacity (Hamilton, 1964) and the theory of reciprocity, that is, helping to the extent that the help of others is anticipated, the others being individuals unrelated, which largely constitutes evolutionary altruism. of psychology has attracted the attention of many researchers, thus leading to debates about whether altruism in humans is true in nature, that is, psychological altruism. The term empathy (i.e., the emotional response to the perceived plight of another person) is closely associated with and has led to the empathy-altruism hypothesis which concerns psychological altruism. This theory is at the heart of the value extension model which claims that humans are capable of valuing more than their own well-being where the evolution of empathic concern in mammals, particularly humans, increases the likelihood of help the other person. However, selfishness (the motive to pursue oneself centrally and ignoring the concerns of others), in contrast, has been seen to fuel some forms of altruistic behavior (Wallach, 1983). Selfishly motivated altruism works when the helper receives public praise or monetary reward for good done, avoiding social or personal punishment for failing to help, and helping others in order to mitigate one's own feeling of personal torment. However, according to Piliavin and Chang (1990), recent theories and data are consistent with the view of true altruism, according to which acting with the aim of benefiting others is part of human nature and is an example of positive psychology in action. . But does this mean that altruism unfolds in the same way in the different stages of life such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age? The following article intends to study altruism in the temporal progression of life from beginning to end – the sequence of life stages. The following article is organized as follows, with section 1 being the study of altruism in children aged 0-12, section 2 reviewing studies of altruism in adolescence, section 3 studying altruism in adulthood which extends into the late 50s and section 4 explaining the prevalence. of altruism in old age or late adulthood.Altruism in infancy and childhoodThe period from infancy to childhood can be classified as the first stage of life where the child learns many important skills like walking, talking and also socializing. Altruism being aSocial behavior is no exception to this and is evident in human children which falls under the term prosocial behavior. A study conducted by Simmer (1971) and later replicated by Sagi and Hoffman (1976) established that 2- to 3-day-old infants cried to recordings of other infants' cries rather than to the synthetic cry with the same acoustic properties that implied true distress-evoked altruistic behavior in other infants. Between 18 and 24 months, children are more aware of their emotions and surroundings, and the frequency with which they help others increases as they engage in activities like bringing things they associate with comfort even if ineffective for the person in distress and this sequence has been observed in several studies. A two-year longitudinal study by Zahn Waxer, Cummings, Mcknew, Radke-yarrow (1984) found that even a mentally ill parent did not increase the frequency of altruistic behaviors in the child despite opportunities for empathic awareness, which implied that regardless of innate tendency, defective attachment with the child's caregiver has detrimental effects on the development of altruism. Studies have shown that young children begin to discriminate in altruistic acts, and by preschool age they moderate altruistic acts according to social norms and rules. When asked to explain their motivation for helping, sharing, and comforting others, they said it was their own desire to help, the needs of their recipient, and, in some cases, an urban friendship or a desire for social acceptance. Experiments carried out with children aged 6 to 10 years in In a public goods experiment compared to the behavior of adults, it was found that the contributions made by young children in the experiment were considered by them to be high-return investments , while those of older children, like adults, learned to freeride. It was concluded that children's preferences for altruism were less well-informed than those of adults and that empathy only increases as the child grows older. Altruism in Adolescence The second stage of the cycle is where the child grows into an adult and the main focus is on exploration and self-discovery. Studies of adolescent altruism began in the 1960s and 1970s and a number of core elements such as empathy, sympathy, moral judgment and perceived competence were identified and increased throughout childhood, leading researchers to believe increased levels of altruism as these predictors of altruism increased. that with increased strength and knowledge of children, caregivers expected more responsibilities to help or care for others, especially in the case of younger siblings in the home (Hannah & Midlarsky, 1984) . Parenting attitudes and styles impact the child's prosocial and altruistic nature (Berk, 2000). Studies concluded that parents are important for prosocial behavior and that parental warmth, sympathy, and moral reasoning were predictors. Children have been found to be prosocial and have more secure attachment relationships with their parents; where parents avoid punitive and strict discipline; when they reason and provide explanations; where they are sensitive to their children's needs and where they support their children's experience and regulation of emotions (Hastings et al., 2000). On the other hand, punishments and punitive care are negatively correlated withprosocial behavior of adolescents. . A study by Green & Scheinder, 1974, found that elementary school children's altruistic activity increased, as they were more willing to share candy with age (especially ages 14 to 16). A study conducted by Dr. Arun Kumar investigated altruism among high school students. Using experiments, I found that whether female students have higher levels of altruism than male students is a function of gender. Another study of 1,105 Chinese students from 20 Hong Kong high schools investigated the effects of age and gender differences in adolescents' altruistic behavior. The results obtained were consistent with those of Berndt (1985), Collins and Getz (1975) who indicate a positive effect of age of altruistic behavior. However, no significant gender differences were found, consistent with Ma & Leung's 1992 study of Chinese students. In addition to this, it was also found that students' education levels were associated with participation in volunteering activities and that adolescents who joined volunteering activities sequentially reported more altruistic behavior (Chou & KL, 1998 ).AdulthoodThe third stage plays an important role in an individual's life and faces challenges, social and financial pressures and where they wish to settle down in life by having children of their own . A study was conducted to investigate competitive altruism which was investigated using mate choice using a dyadic task similar to the Prisoner's Dilemma and was investigated among 31 women and 23 men from the University Cornell. It was found that task participants were more generous when the competition to be chosen, was reserved for social partners and differed for the 3 groups and was further supported by the partner choice incentive, thus indicating that choice of the partner was a means of competitive altruism in adults. Being a parent, educational, professional, and engaging in varied helping roles tends to increase empathy, altruistic motivation, and, therefore, altruistic behavior in adults (Wundheiler, 1985-1986) . With such experiences, maturity or ego development is inevitable to the extent that an individual is able to make voluntary choices without constraints imposed by social roles, leading to true altruism. Erik Erikson's (1950) and Loevinger's (1976) conceptualization of ego development posits that adults pass through stages resolving self-conflicts and life crises that free the individual from constraints and thus navigate toward self-development. concern for others, that is, altruism. The progression from adults to older individuals has been seen to utilize more mature defenses like altruism, which may be closely related to the Alderian construct of social interest. A study by Rushton, Fuller, Neale, Nias, & Eysenck, 1986 established that altruism increased and decreased aggression using well-standardized self-report measures. Altruism in Old AgeThis is the stage where the individual has achieved wisdom. and benevolence and this stage marks the beginning of the human life cycle. Evidence for altruistic activity comes from naturalistic observation and one example is the study by Midlarsky and Hannah, 1989, which examines the relationship between age and generosity from childhood to old age in shopping centers and parks frequently visited by different ages. that the frequency of donations from the elderly population, i.e. 65 years and over, was higher, followed by younger ages, then middle-aged adults. Furthermore, it was found that.69-96.