EGO VERSUS ALTRUISM

by Charles Notess
Last Updated 4-17-08.

Peacemaking depends on striking a balance between actions mainly affected by ego-driven concerns on the one hand and altruistic concerns on the other hand. These two responses are associated with different parts of the brain. The former are influenced by fear driven responses that developed in the pre-human brain. They are quick responses related to personal safety. The latter are influenced by identity concerns and relate to the joy that results from inter-human relationships. These relationships play a key role in the spiritual side of religious faiths.

This posting provides detailed descriptions of the two different responses mentioned above. The following are excerpts from my book Countering Polarization. I have added some food for thought and discussion questions at the end of this posting. . My book is available now from Xlibris' bookstore at: Countering Polarization, the Colorado State University Bookstore, and the Boulder Book Store. The book is now also available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Steven Hyman of the National Institute of Mental Health said in an interview for Newsweek (2-24-2003): "Survival depends on the ability of an organism to respond to threat or reward, and predict the circumstances under which they are likely to occur." The article indicated: "The brain structures that handle that job evolved long before the neocortex (the seat of conscious awareness), and they easily override it. The "emotional brain", as LeDoux calls this web of ancient circuitry, is highly attuned to signs of potential danger."..."The fear system's command center is the amygdala ...Even a split-second glance at a hostile face activates the amygdala in a normal brain...An active amygdala doesn't wait around for instructions from the conscious mind." "Through a process known as fear conditioning, the emotional brain can readily learn to perceive a mundane stimulus as a warning sign."

The occurrence of fear and anxiety coupled with the idea of 'fear conditioning', tends to make strategies based upon fear become self-fulfilling prophecies. If we fear an enemy, we arm to defend ourselves. In response, the enemy arms for defense and war becomes almost inevitable. Sometimes governmental officials rely upon this self-fulfilling aspect to propagate fear and gain support for war and/or reelection.

The emotions of feeling happy, and sharing the joy of one who overcomes a challenge, can bring tears to the eyes of spectators and the one who overcame the challenge. The emotions associated with that kind of joy are very different from those associated with the emotions of fear and hate.

When it comes to attracting viewers, the murder mysteries and coverage of awful world news events seem to be much more exciting and are likely to attract more viewers. But, I believe that they do not expand the perspectives of their viewers as much as altruistic and peacemaking stories do.

The traditions of religious institutions have, for centuries, engendered altruistic behavior by use of stories that exemplified altruistic behavior and told the benefits that accrued to the individual and the community. However, religious leaders have also responded to the challenge of guiding followers to be altruistic, by putting the stronger and deeper emotions of fear of hell into their followers. This approach persists because the idea of one's final judgment occurring in heaven cannot be verified or disproved by our senses.

In sum, the challenge of giving television viewers equal opportunities to watch altruistic and hope-engendering behavior rather than killing and violent behavior, seems to be an impossible challenge to surmount, except occasionally on PBS. The way the human body responds to each of these two types of experiences is so different, that it is difficult to have altruistic experiences counterbalance the hateful violent ones. A dynamics engineer would say: "This is not a linear process." [Religious leaders such as Pastor John C. Hagee build their faith and political campaigns of FEAR!] [The bracketed sentence was added after my book was ready to be published.]

Pitirim Sorokin believed that the study of nonsexual altruistic love as a science was needed to avert worldwide chaos. In his view, this necessity followed from his principle of polarization, according to which the moral difference prevailing under ordinary circumstances is supplanted, for the duration of a crisis, by the extremes of selfishness and altruism.

Food for Thought Questions That Postdate the Work in my Books.

1. If the nature of altruistic actions is different from the nature of ego-based fear reactions, how should this difference affect policy?

2. Was a fear-based reaction the only way for the US to respond to the terrorist acts of 9-11? Consider this from the terrorist point of view and from the point of view of an altruistic response.

3. Can the United Nations develop an altruistic response department that could win the respect of terrorists and other kinds of fear based ego responses? This new department should be led by charismatic and worldwide respected leaders like Mandela. See the book "Teaching and Learning Peace" by Professor William M. Timpson. That book has many good examples of how to overcome the stranglehold fear seems to place on us in our materialistic, consumerist society.

4. Would such a respected worldwide leader need to have the authority to get totalitarian regimes and empire builders to make policy changes that win the trust and good will of those nations that feel exploited and oppressed?

5. How should religious and political leaders establish guidelines for the UN to follow in such an effort?

6. Some churches have surrendered to the ego of youth by using "Halo", a violent shoot-em-up video game to attract youth. If they combined the game with a good verbal exchange about altruistic behavior, which I view as a spirituality enhancing activity, then they might be excused for using violence to attract youth. However, some of these same churches rely on the ego's quick response to fear to try the age-old technique of instilling the fear of hell into their youth.

7. Our society's dominant economic ideology or belief system is one that relies on a so-called free market system of competition. Competition is largely ego driven. Professional sports emphasize competition to attract fans who use their commitment to a particular team as a prop for their personal identities. In a highly individualistic society, individuals rely upon their dress, their home, and their automobile to display their status to others. This model of consumption based identities, also ego driven, is difficult to counter. In this context, how can we achieve a balance between ego and altruistic drives? Some cultures focus the testosterone drive on raising large families. This is not a good solution when there are not enough promising careers to go around and the education that would support those careers is deficient. Another alternative is to channel the ego drives toward the kind of scientific and technological careers that will help all people lead better lives. Societies need to provide better rewards for those who choose to work in education, services, health care, and related altruistic careers.

8. I believe that another way to reduce ego driven responses is to develop a system of justice that protects individuals from insensitive competition. Our Bill of Rights and Constitution had this intent, but since 9-11 the U.S. Administration has weakened some of these protections, in their view, to enable us to defend ourselves better against terrorism. But that approach appears to confront ego driven acts by relying on other ego driven acts. An alternative would have been to learn the cultural elements that led to that vicious response on the part of some Muslims and educate them by joining with progressive Muslims and progressive Christians to guide our actions and our responses to their actions. A large factor underlying our response was a great fear that our economy would collapse with increases in the cost of oil and decreased access to energy resources. To strengthen our economy, we need to plan for lowering the rate of energy and other natural resource consumption per capita while reducing pollution and use of clean water. We need to learn to live better together and reduce urban and suburban sprawl. This implies that we need to expand the worldviews or perspectives of people so that they will appreciate cooperative enterprises aimed at achieving these ends in a coordinated fashion. See Sections H through K in Chapter 5 of my forthcoming book Countering Polarization.


My related bibliography that I continue to update is accessible at: Bibliography.