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Why Non-Profit Brains Should Excel at the Social Web.
Researched published this month was described as finding the part of the brain which deals with altruism. In this post I explain why i think this is confused reporting, but also how the research may help explain that charities and non-profit groups are wonderfully well equipped to make the most of the social web.
This is my first post on netsquared and, if people don't object, I'll mostly use this space to point to relevant jottings elsewhere.
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Altruism and Self-Interest
Hi Nick,
Please do keep pointing us towards "relevant jottings."
I'm not sure I agree that, "These are the people with the most sophisticated and complex (dare I say evolved?) ways to understand and act in the social world."
I think empathy is a component of altruism, but helping others can also be done in self-interest. For some people making money feeds their self-esteem and for others helping others does. There are also plenty of examples of visionary social leaders who gave their life to the greater good, but weren't very good or empathetic to their immediate family.
Britt Bravo
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