One of the features of this election campaign is how willing both sides have been to give away your money and mine as if it's their own and the reasons are far from altruistic. Luckily though there are plenty of people who give away their money for the best of reasons. But altruism is far from straight forward and what Robb Willer's been studying is something called competitive altruism which no doubt charities love but the competition may be for someone's charms. Robb Willer is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkley.

Robb Willer: What we thought we'd observed is that people will compete to behave more altruistically than one another if there is some opportunity for a potentially profitable social interaction. We thought we'd observed this in mating type dynamics amongst humans but also just in everyday gift giving.

Norman Swan: The black tie dinner and that sort of thing where you have the business contacts and you give on the side?

Robb Willer: Exactly, corporate philanthropy is a great example or that rush to pay the bill at a group dinner which seems to be counterintuitive from an economic perspective.

Norman Swan: So how did you study this?

Robb Willer: We set up a study where people could behave altruistically towards someone else and we set up different conditions. In one no one was watching what they were doing in another someone was watching what they were doing and would interact with them later. And in a third someone was watching what they were doing who could choose to interact with them or not and it was in that condition that people behaved the most generously, presenting this third party observer who could choose who they wanted to interact with increased generosity and made it also competitive where people were trying to give more than one another.

Norman Swan: You were sort of currying favour with this third party in a sense.

Robb Willer: That's right and in the real word that might correspond to anonymous giving situations towards charity versus giving and getting onto a public list versus giving when you have some instrumental partnership you'd like to instigate through the giving.

Norman Swan: So was there much difference between the private giving and just the giving where people would know what you'd given but there was nothing in return?

Robb Willer: Absolutely, just as bigger difference there as in the other difference.

Norman Swan: So how does that translate to the real world do you think?

Robb Willer: You can see it clearly, when people compete to behave as generously as possible in order to solicit attention from a potential mate be it male or female.

Norman Swan: What about the situation where it's not money you're giving but it's being nice to somebody. You see somebody in trouble and you spend time with them or you do a bit of work for them which is often what makes the world go around rather than philanthropy.

Robb Willer: Absolutely, that is every bit as much altruism as giving somebody money is.

Norman Swan: And have you any evidence of competition in that kind of altruism?

Robb Willer: I'm not aware of any existing research that shows competitive altruism with non-monetary resources.

Norman Swan: What about the sense of obligation? If you are on the receiving end of an altruistic act have you looked at obligation?

Robb Willer: Yeah, there's an incredibly strong tendency towards reciprocity when somebody gives you a gift it's believed that maybe not only social and cultural factors but maybe also biological factors drive you to want you to reciprocate that gift.

Norman Swan: In other words it knits social organisation.

Robb Willer: Yeah, maybe part of the fundamental social fabric.

Norman Swan: And you've researched this?

Robb Willer: Yes, some recent research I've done is on paying forward, on people's tendency to pay forward favours they receive from strangers to new strangers in turn.

Norman Swan: So in other words if someone has been nice to me I'll be nice to somebody else, not necessarily back to the person who has given it to me.

Robb Willer: That's exactly right, when you get a favour from a stranger and then you interact with a new stranger in turn and I found in my research you tend to behave more generously with them than you otherwise would have been. The basic drive towards direct reciprocity is so strong that when you receive a gift from a stranger you want to pay it back and if you can't directly you'll pay it back to the next person you interact with.

Norman Swan: It's the philanthropic virus.

Robb Willer: You've got it, yeah.

Norman Swan: Tell me about the research you did which got some publicity a little while ago on male identities, it's a fascinating study.

Robb Willer: I was interested in masculine overcompensation that when men are insecure about their masculinity they fix that by demonstrating their masculinity to the extreme. They gave men a gender identity survey and then gave them feedback suggesting they were either masculine or feminine.

Norman Swan: Irrespective of the results.

Robb Willer: Exactly, it had nothing to do with how they had actually scored on the gender identity survey. And what I found was that men who had been told they were feminine supported the war in Iraq more, had more negative attitudes towards homosexuals and even showed greater interest in purchasing a SUV or a 4 x 4.

Norman Swan: And the men who were told they were masculine?

Robb Willer: They were not as impressed by the war in Iraq, they didn't have as negative attitudes towards gays and they had baseline levels of interest in a SUV.

Norman Swan: So this suspicion about homophobes might be right?

Robb Willer: It might, and this is not the only research to suggest that homophobia may come in part from masculine insecurity.

Norman Swan: Where does that research take you?

Robb Willer: I'm working on a lot of extensions on that research now, one thing I'm doing is redoing the study and taking testosterone samples to see if maybe there may be a physiological marker for the process.

Norman Swan: So you could take a pill against the war in Iraq?

Robb Willer: Yes, we are soon going to be developing a series of medication that can modify your political views - yes.

Norman Swan: Have you done it with women?

Robb Willer: I have, I also studied women and I found that women were not nearly as sensitive to feedback about their gender identities as men. One reason is that there's a variety of ways to be a woman in our society and it involves a mixture of traditionally feminine and masculine traits. Have a job but also be a mother so women are used to negotiating complex feedback about their identity.

Norman Swan: Robb Willer is at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reference:

Barclay P and Willer R Partner Choice Creates Competitive Altruism in Humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 2007;274:749-753

I'm Norman Swan and you've been listening to the Health Report on ABC Radio National.