Why Act for the Public Good? Four Answers
- 1 October 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Vol. 20 (5) , 603-610
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167294205016
Abstract
A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four motives for acting for the public good: egoism, collectivism, altruism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is self-benefit; for collectivism, it is to increase group welfare; for altruism, to increase one or more other individuals' welfare; for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. Advocates claim that these last three motives cannot be reduced to egoism. Evidence for this claim is limited, however, especially for collectivism and principlism. It is hoped that the conceptual distinctions proposed will permit broader, more precise empirical study of nonegoistic motives for acting for the public good.Keywords
This publication has 29 references indexed in Scilit:
- Meta-Analytic Contributions to the Literature on Prosocial BehaviorPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1991
- Explaining discussion-induced cooperation.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1988
- Beyond Gender Difference to a Theory of CareSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1987
- Moral reasoning and political orientation: The context sensitivity of individual rights and democratic principles.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987
- Empathy-based helping: Is it selflessly or selfishly motivated?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987
- The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors.Psychological Bulletin, 1987
- Fear‐Arousing and Empathy‐Arousing Appeals to Help: The Pathos of PersuasionJournal of Applied Social Psychology, 1981
- Moral judgment-situation interaction as a basis for predicting prosocial behavior1Journal of Personality, 1981
- Experiments on the Provision of Public Goods by Groups III: Nondivisibility and Free Riding in "Real" GroupsSocial Psychology Quarterly, 1980
- Empathy and altruism.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975