The author of “On Being Certain” and the coming “A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind,” Dr. Burton is a contributor to a scholarly yet surprisingly sprightly volume called “Pathological Altruism,” to be published this fall by Oxford University Press. And he says his colleague’s behavior is a good example of that catchily contradictory term, just beginning to make the rounds through the psychological sciences.I sometimes hear it claimed that various do-gooders, such as teachers, social workers, nurses, and counselors, must be right because they are objective and could not possibly have any motive except the benefit of everyone involved.
As the new book makes clear, pathological altruism is not limited to showcase acts of self-sacrifice, like donating a kidney or a part of one’s liver to a total stranger. The book is the first comprehensive treatment of the idea that when ostensibly generous “how can I help you?” behavior is taken to extremes, misapplied or stridently rhapsodized, it can become unhelpful, unproductive and even destructive.
Selflessness gone awry may play a role in a broad variety of disorders, including anorexia and animal hoarding, women who put up with abusive partners and men who abide alcoholic ones. ...
Train nurses to be highly empathetic and, yes, their patients will love them. But studies show that empathetic nurses burn out and leave the profession more quickly than do their peers who remain aloof. Give generously to Child A, and Child B will immediately howl foul, while quiet Child C will grow up and write nasty novels about you. “Pathologies of altruism,” as Dr. Oakley put it, “are bound to arise.”
The argument is ridiculous, of course. An old lady with 20 cats might seem to be purely altruistic, but would you trust her advice on anything? And those who earn their living as social workers or in some similar profession cannot be purely altruistic. They are doing what they do for the money. And as this article explains, they can be blinded by their do-gooder ideals, and give extraordinarily bad advice.
1 comment:
can't be purely for the money that they're in for it, otherwise they'd all be investment bankers. There's a zealot's heart beating in them righting the wrongs of the world as they see it. Or actually just trying to make up for their own unhappy childhoods, taking it out on everyone else. Not negating the money aspect, but for a lot of these folks it's more than that. LCSW's don't make a lot of dough.
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