Seminar

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:13)

Hannes Rusch (Philipps-University Marburg)

March 6, 2018, 12:45–13:45

Toulouse

Room MS003

Abstract

Human high-stake altruism, i.e. behavior that benefits others at a substantial fitness cost to the helping individual, is one of the most awe-inspiring behaviors we know and maybe as old as humankind. However, it cannot be studied empirically in any controlled laboratory context for obvious reasons. Thus, although numerous theories exist that can potentially explain how high-stakes altruism may have been conserved or even promoted by natural selection, we are currently short of suitable ways to test these theories against each other in an ecologically valid way. Over the last four years, I have been collecting a large data set (N ≈ 10,000) on recipients of the ‘Carnegie Medal for Civil Heroism’ and the US-military’s ‘Medal of Honor’. These men and women distinguished themselves through acts of extraordinary bravery and selflessness by risking, and often losing, their lives for those of others in a range of contexts. In this talk I give an overview of the results obtained so far in the analysis of this data. These include published results on Medal of Honor recipients (Rusch 2013, Evol Psychol; Rusch & Störmer 2015, Mil Spect; Rusch et al. 2015, Evol Hum Behav) as well as yet unpublished results on both groups of ‘heroes’. For this talk, particular emphasis will be put on the geographic origins of the distinguished individuals, as a proxy for cultural factors potentially affecting inclinations to act heroically, as well as on a comparison of their longevity with that of a random sample of the US population, as a proxy for potentially underlying genetic differences. This research project on documented historical cases of high-stakes altruism is work in progress. Yet, as I will demonstrate in the talk, the current data set already allows for the investigation of numerous principle questions about instances of irrefutably costly human pro sociality in an ecologically valid way. In addition, I would love to use the opportunity of this meeting to discuss ideas about further analyses and potential extensions of the data set with interested colleagues, and to invite collaborations.

 Hannes Rusch is postdoctorate in Public Economics, at Philipps-University Marburg.

His webpage

Reference

Hannes Rusch (Philipps-University Marburg), Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:13), IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, March 6, 2018, 12:45–13:45, room MS003.