4 ms·
Exactly this. It seems the article and most nerds assume the conclusion that giving must be for reputation enhancement.
by psyc 8y ago
Exactly this. It seems the article and most nerds assume the conclusion that giving must be for reputation enhancement.
- zzzcpan 8y agoWell, desires can only exist if there are rewards. You are implying people can desire things without rewards, but that would be against human nature.
- walterbell 8y agoThere can be private rewards that are not socially visible, e.g. - donating to the favorite charity of a deceased friend - donating to a charity whose goals are aligned with your belief system
- DoreenMichele 8y agoIf you want a particular thing to happen, you can support that thing without getting public credit and be happy that the thing is happening. If you make the world a better place, you get to live in a better place. It can be a form of enlightened self interest.
- dorfsmay 8y agoWhy do you vote? To me giving to charity is like voting, but with some weight behind it. Voting is trying to influence the chances that shit happens, while giving money is putting fuel in the machine that makes shit happen.
- phkahler 8y agoMating has no reward to you other than how it makes you feel. The real benefit is to your genes which get to reproduce. Altruism may improve your environment as well as that of your offspring. Such behavior could be genetically selected for even in species without a big enough brain to have "motives" with known rewards. Cooperation happens in all sorts of creatures.
- lend000 8y agoA good feeling is a reward... feeling that you are 'doing good' for a cause you are interested in can create that good feeling, a.k.a. a reward.
- phkahler 8y agoSure, biology can not only wire a behavior, it can provide a good feeling/reward as well. My point was that this can come about through evolution rather than having hidden motives or deliberately playing "game theory" stuff. It is sufficient for a behavior to benefit your genes - no psychology required.
- ghaff 8y agoYou're basically arguing that there are only extrinsic motivators. But it's pretty well researched science that intrinsic motivations exist as well.
- throwawaymath 8y agoAn intrinsic motivation can also be considered reward. Discussions like this just devolve into arguing over definitions anyway.
- dwaltrip 8y agoYes of course. However, some of those motivations are something other than reputation enhancement, which seems to be a surprisingly novel concept for a few commentators in this thread.
- alangpierce 8y agoMany aspects of modern life could be called unnatural. Just because something is (allegedly) unnatural doesn't mean it's undesirable and certainly doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. There are many people who genuinely wish to help others and aren't looking for anything in particular in return, and if that's unnatural, then I'd say it's an improvement over natural human tendencies.
- psyc 8y ago“You are implying” Ok. “You are wrong.” Reward is a gigantic superset of reputation enhancement.