The Brain is Built for Generosity
We hear many times that humans are selfish, but scientists are finding the contrary: the brain is built for generosity.A cursory read of evolutionary doctrine and Darwinian principle suggests that the selfish individuals able to outcompete others for the best mates and the most resources are most likely to pass their genes on to the next generation. There is also the classical economic theory, which holds that given the choice, we will often opt for a personal benefit over a personal loss, even if that loss involves a benefit to someone else. But the latest science shows that, in fact, we are also hard-wired to be generous.
The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article written by Elizabeth Svoboda (author of What Makes a Hero? The Surprising Science of Selflessness). According to her, scientists are identifying the precise circuits within the brain that control these nurturing social impulses, using techniques like fMRI. Where once there was only speculation about the origins of the human desire to help others, a body of data is starting to fill the gap, revealing key workings of the biological hardware that makes altruism possible. This represents a new scientific frontier. The question of why any creatures are altruistic at all obsessed Charles Darwin from the time he devised his theory of evolution. Since then, two complex schools of scientific thought have emerged. One argues that altruism exists because it helps ensure the survival of close kin. Various researchers have also highlighted the merits of the view that helping may maximize the survival odds of each member of a society. That would mean that behaving less selfishly isn’t just a way of protecting close family members; it might also be a way for individuals to improve their own prospects by contributing to the well-being of a strong collective.
Dr. Jordan Grafman, director of brain injury research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, became interested in how the brain governs generosity and in the mid-2000s, while working at the National Institutes of Health, he began to investigate where empathy and generosity originated in the brain. The advent of fMRI scanning, which highlights blood flow in different parts of the brain, made it much easier to see which parts of the brain were engaged as people carried out various tasks. To see if this tool could lend insight into the motivations behind giving behavior, Dr. Grafman and his colleagues recruited 19 study subjects, placed each of them inside the fMRI scanner, and presented them with charities from a long list. For each charity, they could choose to donate money, refuse to donate money, or add money to a separate reward account that they could take home at the end of the study. (In some cases, it was especially costly for subjects to make a donation decision, because doing so required them to draw from their own reward accounts.) The scans revealed that when people made the decision to donate to what they felt was a worthy organization, parts of the midbrain lit up—the same region that controls cravings for food and sex, and the same region that became active when the subjects added money to their personal reward accounts. How did this finding made sense? While we often tend to think of altruism as a kind of sophisticated moral capacity we use to squelch our urges to dominate others, this new evidence suggests that giving is actually inherently rewarding: The brain churns out a pleasurable response when we engage in it.
Dr. Grafman also found that the subgenual area – a gumdrop-size region near the midpoint of the brain, part of the frontal lobes – was also strongly active when his study subjects made the decision to give to charity. The area contains lots of receptors for oxytocin, a hormone that promotes social bonding. The finding suggests that altruism and social relationships are intimately connected—in part, it may be our reliance on the benefits of strong interpersonal connections that motivates us to behave unselfishly.
To Dr. Grafman, one of the most memorable results was what happened when subjects decided to make a donation even when they knew it was going to cost them money from their personal reward accounts. In these scenarios, a brain area called the anterior prefrontal cortex lit up – a region that is responsible for complex judgments and decision-making. These subjects were willing to give even when they knew it would cost them, indicating that this segment of the brain may help us decide to behave generously when doing so runs counter to our immediate self-interest.
Bill Harbaugh, a University of Oregon economist, set out to pinpoint exactly what is going on in people’s brains when they decide to give to someone else. In 2007, with his psychologist colleague Ulrich Mayr, he placed subjects in an fMRI scanner, while a computer monitor in front of them presented them with opportunities to donate to a food bank from a fund of $100 in real cash they’d received at the beginning of the experiment. The suggested donations could be as low as $15 or as high as $45. The subjects’ donation decisions had meaning, since they would get to pocket whatever money was left over. Dr. Harbaugh also opted to add another wrinkle: Some of the donations would be “voluntary,” meaning the subjects would get to decide whether or not to give to charity, and some would be “involuntary,” meaning the computer would simply inform the subjects that they were required to give a certain amount—a condition similar to real-life taxation.
After the experiment, Drs. Harbaugh and Mayr scrutinized the fMRI data. Some of their results meshed with basic Econ 101 principles. For instance, people were more likely to help the charity when the suggested contribution was relatively low. Other findings, however, were more surprising. When subjects decided to give to charity, areas of the brain associated with the processing of unexpected rewards, such as the nucleus accumbens, lit up. The nucleus accumbens, which contains neurons that release the pleasure chemical dopamine, “is almost like the common currency of the brain. It keeps track of rewards, whatever kind they are” Dr. Harbaugh says. “There’s some primary reward people get from seeing money go from themselves to provide to other people.”
His results tallied with Dr. Grafman’s fMRI experiments showing pleasurable activation in the midbrain during giving. Dr. Harbaugh’s study indicated that giving to charity is, surprisingly, neurologically similar to ingesting an addictive drug or learning you’ve received a winning lottery ticket. It seems clear, then, that people give to charity not only because they think it’s a good thing to do but also because giving makes them feel good, in addition to the particular benefit they’re bestowing on the recipient. Even when subjects in Dr. Harbaugh’s study were required to donate, this pleasurable response persisted, though it wasn’t as strong as when people got to choose whether to donate on their own.
Dr. Harbaugh’s work suggests that giving completely for its own sake – with absolutely zero expectation of pleasure or other reward in return – is rare. We are forever making complex calculations about whether or not to give in different situations, but whether or not our gift will help someone is far from the only factor we consider. The better we feel when we give, in general, the more often we do it. And in the end, what we do with our generous thoughts and inclinations is always up to us.
The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article written by Elizabeth Svoboda (author of What Makes a Hero? The Surprising Science of Selflessness). According to her, scientists are identifying the precise circuits within the brain that control these nurturing social impulses, using techniques like fMRI. Where once there was only speculation about the origins of the human desire to help others, a body of data is starting to fill the gap, revealing key workings of the biological hardware that makes altruism possible. This represents a new scientific frontier. The question of why any creatures are altruistic at all obsessed Charles Darwin from the time he devised his theory of evolution. Since then, two complex schools of scientific thought have emerged. One argues that altruism exists because it helps ensure the survival of close kin. Various researchers have also highlighted the merits of the view that helping may maximize the survival odds of each member of a society. That would mean that behaving less selfishly isn’t just a way of protecting close family members; it might also be a way for individuals to improve their own prospects by contributing to the well-being of a strong collective.
Dr. Jordan Grafman, director of brain injury research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, became interested in how the brain governs generosity and in the mid-2000s, while working at the National Institutes of Health, he began to investigate where empathy and generosity originated in the brain. The advent of fMRI scanning, which highlights blood flow in different parts of the brain, made it much easier to see which parts of the brain were engaged as people carried out various tasks. To see if this tool could lend insight into the motivations behind giving behavior, Dr. Grafman and his colleagues recruited 19 study subjects, placed each of them inside the fMRI scanner, and presented them with charities from a long list. For each charity, they could choose to donate money, refuse to donate money, or add money to a separate reward account that they could take home at the end of the study. (In some cases, it was especially costly for subjects to make a donation decision, because doing so required them to draw from their own reward accounts.) The scans revealed that when people made the decision to donate to what they felt was a worthy organization, parts of the midbrain lit up—the same region that controls cravings for food and sex, and the same region that became active when the subjects added money to their personal reward accounts. How did this finding made sense? While we often tend to think of altruism as a kind of sophisticated moral capacity we use to squelch our urges to dominate others, this new evidence suggests that giving is actually inherently rewarding: The brain churns out a pleasurable response when we engage in it.
Dr. Grafman also found that the subgenual area – a gumdrop-size region near the midpoint of the brain, part of the frontal lobes – was also strongly active when his study subjects made the decision to give to charity. The area contains lots of receptors for oxytocin, a hormone that promotes social bonding. The finding suggests that altruism and social relationships are intimately connected—in part, it may be our reliance on the benefits of strong interpersonal connections that motivates us to behave unselfishly.
To Dr. Grafman, one of the most memorable results was what happened when subjects decided to make a donation even when they knew it was going to cost them money from their personal reward accounts. In these scenarios, a brain area called the anterior prefrontal cortex lit up – a region that is responsible for complex judgments and decision-making. These subjects were willing to give even when they knew it would cost them, indicating that this segment of the brain may help us decide to behave generously when doing so runs counter to our immediate self-interest.
Bill Harbaugh, a University of Oregon economist, set out to pinpoint exactly what is going on in people’s brains when they decide to give to someone else. In 2007, with his psychologist colleague Ulrich Mayr, he placed subjects in an fMRI scanner, while a computer monitor in front of them presented them with opportunities to donate to a food bank from a fund of $100 in real cash they’d received at the beginning of the experiment. The suggested donations could be as low as $15 or as high as $45. The subjects’ donation decisions had meaning, since they would get to pocket whatever money was left over. Dr. Harbaugh also opted to add another wrinkle: Some of the donations would be “voluntary,” meaning the subjects would get to decide whether or not to give to charity, and some would be “involuntary,” meaning the computer would simply inform the subjects that they were required to give a certain amount—a condition similar to real-life taxation.
After the experiment, Drs. Harbaugh and Mayr scrutinized the fMRI data. Some of their results meshed with basic Econ 101 principles. For instance, people were more likely to help the charity when the suggested contribution was relatively low. Other findings, however, were more surprising. When subjects decided to give to charity, areas of the brain associated with the processing of unexpected rewards, such as the nucleus accumbens, lit up. The nucleus accumbens, which contains neurons that release the pleasure chemical dopamine, “is almost like the common currency of the brain. It keeps track of rewards, whatever kind they are” Dr. Harbaugh says. “There’s some primary reward people get from seeing money go from themselves to provide to other people.”
His results tallied with Dr. Grafman’s fMRI experiments showing pleasurable activation in the midbrain during giving. Dr. Harbaugh’s study indicated that giving to charity is, surprisingly, neurologically similar to ingesting an addictive drug or learning you’ve received a winning lottery ticket. It seems clear, then, that people give to charity not only because they think it’s a good thing to do but also because giving makes them feel good, in addition to the particular benefit they’re bestowing on the recipient. Even when subjects in Dr. Harbaugh’s study were required to donate, this pleasurable response persisted, though it wasn’t as strong as when people got to choose whether to donate on their own.
Dr. Harbaugh’s work suggests that giving completely for its own sake – with absolutely zero expectation of pleasure or other reward in return – is rare. We are forever making complex calculations about whether or not to give in different situations, but whether or not our gift will help someone is far from the only factor we consider. The better we feel when we give, in general, the more often we do it. And in the end, what we do with our generous thoughts and inclinations is always up to us.
