Overview
- This book examines the similarities and differences in altruism across cultures
- Examines the role of altruism in ritual and religion
- Analyzes the interplay of biology and culture in altruism
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology (ICUP)
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Keywords
- Altruism across Social Groups
- Altruism in human ritual
- Altruism in religion
- Altruism in ritual
- Altruistic Behavior
- Altruistic Behavior Coding Scheme
- Cross-Cultural Research
- Cross-cultural research on altruism
- Daosit Altruism
- Dualistic Cosmogonies
- Genesis and Evolution of Altruistic Motifs
- Human Altruism
- Indian perspectives on selflessness
- National Altruism Study
- Spiritual Altruism
- Wateristic Personality
- altruistic stories
- cross-cultural commonalities
- oral narratives
Table of contents (13 chapters)
Reviews
"Based on a symposium on the same theme held in connection with the 34th Annual Conference of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research, February 23–27, 2005, at Santa Fe, NM, and convened by the volume’s editor, the book contains contributions by 21 authors of different nationalities in 13 chapters, 7 of which are based on papers originally presented at this conference. While a “Foreword” by senior cross-cultural psychologist Harry C. Triandis (vii–xi) aptly leads into the subject matter, the “Afterword” (chapter 13, pp. 159–63), by Steven G. Post and Matthew T. Lee, concludes that “other-regarding behaviors are without exception endorsed in all major world religions and in the world cultures that have grown up around them” (p. 159) which allows us to assume that altruism is “a universal value” indeed (p. 163). (Post is a physician and Lee a sociologist, and both are engaged in the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, Stony Brook, NY.)...Short biographical notes about the contributors (pp. 165–71) and the editor (p. 173) as well as a general index (pp. 175–80) conclude this book, which is a high-quality tool for cross-cultural studies of altruism and beyond."
Christopher H. Grundmann
Zygon, vol. 49, no. 1, March 2014
"Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective provides a multidisciplinary effort to examine human altruism cross-culturally. The authors of the 11 chapters plus epilogue and afterword come from a variety of disciplines: Psychology and anthropology are well represented, with additional contributions from social work, philosophy, theology, and education. Other chapter authors come from communication, folklore studies, English literature, public health, recreation and tourism, and ecology and environmental sciences. The multidisciplinary breadthof this volume results from its origination as a symposium conducted at the 34th Annual Conference of the Society for Cross Cultural Research convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in February 2005. The pioneering work of Daniel Batson on altruism provides a foundation for the book and a common thread running through many of the chapters (Batson, 2011, 2012)...This book should be of interest to both students and professionals concerned with gaining a broader understanding of altruism in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary perspectives. As noted above, it builds on the pioneering work of Batson and complements other recent work on altruism (Knafo & Israel, 2012; Midlarsky, Mullin, & Barkin, 2012; Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005; Snyder & Dwyer, 2013)."
John M. Davis
PsycCRITIQUES
April 28, 2014, Vol. 59, No. 17, Article 8
Editors and Affiliations
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Editors: Douglas A. Vakoch
Series Title: International and Cultural Psychology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6952-0
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-6951-3Published: 16 May 2013
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4899-8597-2Published: 23 June 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4614-6952-0Published: 16 May 2013
Series ISSN: 1571-5507
Series E-ISSN: 2197-7984
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 180
Topics: Cross Cultural Psychology, Philosophy of Biology, Biological Psychology