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Let´s call it altruism ! A psychological perspective and hierarchical framework of altruism and prosocial behavior

“Altruism” is a term used by many disciplines like biology, economics, sociology and psychology that varies in its definition even by researchers in the same field. This lack of common ground concerning the definition has often led to misunderstandings due to the different approaches taken by researchers from various fields. In this work, we propose a hierarchical model of prosocial behavior that provides an overview on the hierarchical structure and position of several definitions of altruism provided by researchers from several disciplines. The highest hierarchical level is helping behavior that comprises both voluntary and involuntary behavior of benefit for others. The next hierarchical level is the general category of prosocial behavior, which is voluntary helping and yet independent from the reasons or motivation to help. The subsequent level of the hierarchy on the one hand defines different kinds of prosocial behavior in humans according to the source of general motivation being for example motivated by empathy, external rewards like reputation, or even by anger in case of costly punishment. On the other hand, on the same level, a differentiation using concepts from evolutionary perspectives grounds this very influential approach to prosocial behavior. Social interaction rules according to social exchange theory and situationally specific motivational aspects of prosocial behavior define further lower hierarchical levels. We propose this model to create a common ground for communication as well as to spread the awareness of the hierarchical differences in the different definitions of the term “altruism” in various fields of research.