Facets of altruism in study majors and volunteering groups

Altruism may not be a unidimensional concept, but may contain different facets that can be empirically dissociated in real-life contexts. In two studies, we profile students from different undergraduate majors and selected vocational groups in terms of self-reported Help Giving (HG), Peer Punishment (PP) and Moral Courage (MC) using the Facets of Altruistic Behavioral traits scale. We find that law students characterize themselves as high in MC and low in HG, in contrast to students of educational science/teaching, pastoral care volunteers, and medicine/psychology students who report high HG traits. Environmental activists, on the other hand, show significantly elevated scores on both, the MC and HG facets. The peer punishment subscale designed to assess the willingness to monitor and punish free-riders in team collaborations failed to show any significant differences between the groups. In summary, these findings advance our understanding of altruism as a multifaceted personality trait, its assessment with self-report measures, and its relevance to real life.

Automated summary

Altruism is not a unidimensional concept and can be divided into different facets. This study examines self-reported altruistic behaviors such as help giving, peer punishment, and moral courage among students from various majors and vocational groups. The results show that different groups have different characteristics in terms of these facets, suggesting that altruism is a multifaceted personality trait. The findings contribute to our understanding of altruism and its measurement using self-report measures.