September 11, 2001, four aircrafts were hijacked and two of them were crashed into the twin towers. Throughout the chaos and burning fires from above, there were still many people who spent countless effort in making sure they got out of the towers. However, among these people were also those who saved others. The selflessness of the many people on 9/11 is one of the reasons for all of the survivors from this event. This act of selflessness is also defined as altruism. This act of heroism throughout chaotic events has been a topic of controversy for decades. The controversy is as to whether the act of altruism is a human trait that people have, being motivated by empathy or if there is a self-serving benefit to every act of altruism, being …show more content…
Altruism is also commonly known as selflessness and/or heroism. This is contradictory to Darwin 's theory of evolution, or better known as, “survival of the fittest”, a phenomenon of every man for himself. Throughout history, however, this theory has been contradicted by many scientists with altruistic ideas, one of them being a biologist named E.O. Wilson. Wilson’s book “The Social Conquest of Earth,” explains that once animals and people started living in groups, those organisms began to develop a sense of empathy and selflessness which later led to the theories of altruism. Some of the many people who perform acts of altruism today are police officers, firefighters, and soldiers. Without these people, society would be very …show more content…
The experiences that a person goes through cna determine the amount of risks they take, as well as their empathy and compassion towards others. A study done by Stanford researchers looked into these causes of altruism, rather than just psychological and biological reasons. The study showed that “altruistic behavior may be governed more by relationships, even brief, than instincts,” (Carey). By explaining that altruism partially determined by the relationships we as human being acquired throughout our live times, it describes that altruism not only is pure, but has a larger meaning than first sought out ot be. Another study, done by the Elementary School Journal, implied that the background of people plays a large role in the amounts of altruistic behavior a person