The Role of Altruism in The Business & Consumer Relationship

Altruism is a critical component of human nature. It is built into us at our very core, and for some good reason. Humans are pack animals, and this has always been the case. We hang in groups because that’s what gives us the best chance to survive. You can imagine being human when we were living in hunter-gatherer societies. Dangers were lurking around almost constantly. The chances of being attacked by predators were extremely high, so belonging to a group or a tribe of people provided you with protection. Not only that, but if you were ever to fall ill or have a child, it was your tribe who was there to support you and to provide you with whatever help you required. So, the need to be part of a pack as a human being is one of the most fundamental vital traits that provide us access to the support that keeps us alive.

So, how does this have any association with altruism? — Well, if you’re to be a valuable member of any tribe, you need to be able to co-operate and think about well-being beyond the limitations of your skin. Being part of a group means adopting standard rules, shared values and shared beliefs; without those things, you don’t have a group. With common ground comes the responsibility of each individual within the group to place the importance of the entire group at the highest of priorities, because what is good for the group is good for the individual. And so, altruism plays a crucial role in strengthening the ties between ourselves and the other individual members of our group. From an evolutionary perspective, altruism is that mechanism that binds individuals into a collective unit, creating the platform for the exchange of goods and services, access to resources and most importantly, access to safety. As the adage goes, “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”. Suppose the evolutionary biologists are right about altruism being an adapted trait that aids us in our quest to survive and thrive. In that case, the fact that showing acts of altruism feels good on a personal level should come as no surprise, and we have evidence for this on a neurochemical level.

Usually, the most known chemical associated with altruism is oxytocin which is also related to love. This chemical is so potent; it’s responsible for what binds mother to child during the very early stages of child-rearing. And you can say, “oh, look at the love between that mother and child”, as if it’s one of those things that makes you find cute; however, it goes much deeper than that from an evolutionary perspective. That child needs that oxytocin as if its life depends on it because it does. If the parent doesn’t develop love towards its child, that child doesn’t survive. So, while warm and fuzzy, this is a critical part of the process of child-rearing and development. But, it’s not only about keeping yourself alive for the sake of being alive, but keeping yourself alive so that your genes can replicate. At its most basic level, acts of altruism give the gene pool you belong to a better chance of continuation.

Each individual has the capacity for altruism; unless you’re a sociopath. But for the most part, altruism is an in-built trait. This is evident from a psychological perspective. When we look at personality theory, we find that altruism is a feature of one of the Big 5 personality traits referred to as ‘agreeableness’. The domain of agreeableness is broken down into two sub traits — compassion and politeness. Much like a spectrum, each individual will fall somewhere within this domain for agreeableness, some scoring much higher than others. However, everyone can be agreeable to some extent, and given that altruism is a feature of agreeableness, this suggests that everyone has some capacity for altruism. On average, women tend to score much higher in agreeableness than men. This finding is consistent across multiple cultures, so it’s not as if altruism is a product of the socialisation of culture. However, some cultures may emphasise its importance more than others.

We also know a bit about altruistic tendencies on a neurobiological level, and again it seems as though altruism is more valued among women than in men. There have been scans done on both men and women which targeted brain regions where dopaminergic pathways were most prominent. Dopamine is the neurochemical associated with pleasure and reward, so tracking the activity of these dopaminergic pathways while people engage in certain behaviours is a good indication of what sort of things compel them to take action towards, and what type of things give them a sense of reward and pleasure. Participants of this particular study engaged in either altruistic behaviours or behaviours that served for their own self-gain. It was found that the dopaminergic pathways in women showed high activity while engaging in altruistic behaviours, compared to men whose dopaminergic pathways lit up when engaging in behaviours that resulted in self-gain. So, although the level of altruism may differ between gender or culture, it’s important to note that it is a universal, hardwired trait in all human beings.

Okay, so how does this all tie into the topic of business and consumer relationships?

Well, marketers have intuitively known how to hack our hardwired traits for so long now, and they do it exceptionally well in regards to hacking human altruism. Companies do a tremendous job of showing acts of altruism when they offer gifts or extras attached to their products or services — “buy this toothpaste, and you get a complimentary toothbrush”, or. “Here, buy this car, and we will throw in free floor mats and extra years worth of warranty”. It’s all strategic at the end of the day. However, whether genuine or not, these displays of altruism trigger in you the itch to want to give back. You almost start to feel guilty in a sense, because you feel like someone has done a favour for you, and you wish to return that favour.

Marketer, entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk openly admits that he provides as much value as humanly possible, so the beneficiaries of his giving’s almost feel obliged to want to buy his products or services when they are on offer. Now, I believe a lot of the altruism that Gary Vee displays are genuine signs of generosity. For the most part, he is not just generous just for the sake of manipulation. I have researched Gary’s personality, and he scores really high in trait — agreeableness. However, coming from the mouth of the founder of one of America’s fastest-growing marketing agencies, it’s evident that companies have great insights into some of the most fundamental traits of their consumers. A 2004 study from the Marketing Science journal found that when companies provide promotions and free samples to their consumers, it produces measurable effects of long-term sales performance. In his book ‘Influence’, Dr Robert Caildini suggests that the first core principle of persuasion is reciprocation. Cialdini found that when restaurant owners provided their customers with a single mint with the bill, their tips increased by 3.3%; when the restaurant owners provided two mints with the bill, their tips increased by 14%. These results support the notion that altruism is a hardwired trait in human beings and that when we receive something from someone, we feel obliged to return that favour or reciprocate.

Altruism is a beautiful part of human nature, but I don’t give us humans the credit for our generosity; I give credit to our genetic make-up. Nonetheless, our ability to engage in altruistic acts is a potent tool we have adopted throughout our evolutionary timeline. This sort of behaviour is responsible for the philanthropic endeavour, for the determination shown in our hospitals and for the day to day exchanges between those we love most. While altruism manifests itself in such elegant ways, we must understand the psychological and biological mechanisms that underlie its very purpose. Altruism is a tool for group cohesion, a device that aims to benefit the group so that the individual can benefit. Paradoxically, this sounds selfish, and perhaps there are some selfish motivations behind certain acts of altruism. But let’s leave the selfish-altruism debate for another day. For now, though, let’s bask in the glory of our inherited kindness and compassion.

References -

Bawa, Kapil & Shoemaker, Robert. (2004). The Effects of Free Sample Promotions on Incremental Brand Sales. Marketing Science. 23. 345–363. 10.1287/mksc.1030.0052.

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Soutschek, A., Burke, C., Beharelle, A., Schreiber, R., Weber, S., Karipidis, I., Velden, J., Weber, B., Haker, H., Kalenscher, T., & Tobler, P. (2017). The dopaminergic reward system underpins gender differences in social preferences. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, 819–827. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0226-y

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