The evolution of GOODNESS

In my opinion, I believe that human beings are willing to do good for others mainly because of several factors.

A factor is that the recipient of the goodness and its giver are related in a certain way, either by blood or by acquiantance. This form of altruism is actually inherent in every one of us and it is very natural to be altruistic to someone very close to you in need of help. Tink about it: Will a mother not give the best for her child? Will a man not wish for the best for his wife? It seems quite obvious that this forms of altruism are present, possibly in our great oblivion, in our everyday lives. Not only in humans is this for of altruism present. Another instance for this is bees that sacrificed themselves to protect their hives, becuase they are protecting blood relatives in the hives.

The Hamilton equation manages to summarize the relationship between genetic relatedness between individuals, benefits and, cost of the act of giving of altruism between the giver and the recipient.

Another is that of the act of reciprocacy. When an act of altruism is done onto someone, it is expected for that goodness to be done unto you back in return by that someone you had given it to. For example, if you help someone in need, you would expect some reciprocacy in the future, or maybe something more abstract like help from others when you are in need. In other words, doing such acts of altruism is beneficial to oneself too because of what the recipient may do for you in the future, thus expectation of this act of reciprocacy is also an impetus for acts of altruism onto others.

In my personal opinion and experience, such acts of giving are also done because one feels happy after doing so. For example, if you had helped a person in need, you will feel satisfied because you have done your part to give assistance to him. This is also seen by some people that when they do something good, their God will be very pleased with them and shower his blessings on them in the near future, and that their lives will greatly improve after commiting in an act of altruism.