1. Open Access Kent State
  2. Self-Control and Altruism
Author(s)
Abstract

Self-control and altruism are both dimensions of choice. When a person chooses a distant or temporally extended reward such as good health over a relatively closer and temporally constricted reward such as smoking a cigarette, the person’s act is said to be self-controlled rather than impulsive. Correspondingly, when a person chooses a reward for another person or a group of other people at a cost to him- or herself, as when giving anonymously to charity, the person is said to be behaving altruistically rather than selfishly. Our main purpose in this chapter is to compare these two dimensions of behavior—to show how they are and are not analogous. We make this comparison in two conceptual contexts: the economic view and teleological behaviorism.
Format
Book Chapter
Identifier(s)
10.1037/13937-020
Publication Date
2013-01-01
Publication Title
APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis, Volume 1, Methods and Principles
Volume
1
First Page
463
Last Page
481
Keywords
Subject
Community
Department of Psychological Sciences
Recommended Citation

Locey, M. L., Jones, B. A., & Rachlin, H. (2013). Self-control and altruism. In G. J. Madden, W. V. Dube, T. D. Hackenberg, G. P. Hanley, & K. A. Lattal (Eds.), APA handbook of behavior analysis, Vol. 1. Methods and principles (pp. 463-481). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Permalink https://oaks.kent.edu/psycpubs/125
Locey, M., Jones, B., & Rachlin, H. (2013). Self-Control and Altruism (1–). APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis, Volume 1, Methods and Principles. https://doi.org/dx.doi.org/10.1037/13937-020
Locey, Matthew, Bryan Jones, and Howard Rachlin. 2013. “Self-Control and Altruism”. APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis, Volume 1, Methods and Principles. https://doi.org/dx.doi.org/10.1037/13937-020.
Locey, Matthew, et al. Self-Control and Altruism. APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis, Volume 1, Methods and Principles, 1 Jan. 2013, https://doi.org/dx.doi.org/10.1037/13937-020.