What is altruism and do you think it is a real phenomenon? ...

[09madisonrousseau09]

What is altruism and do you think it is a real phenomenon?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Explain the concept of mindfulness and its roots.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[macybarnes]

Answer to Question 1

Empathy involves both identification and understanding, and is believed to be the driving force for acts of altruism, the act of helping unselfishly. Altruistic people want to alleviate the suffering of persons they are helping. Though some believe that all behavior is motivated by self-interest, Daniel Batson demonstrated through over 30 experiments that pitted empathy-altruism acts of helping against egoistic (self-interest) motivated helping, that empathy motivated altruism is a real phenomenon.

Answer to Question 2

The idea of actively cultivating conscious awareness and attention has roots in Buddhist traditions and is part of the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness can be defined as the state of being attentive and aware of what is taking place in the present. A similar but slightly different definition of mindfulness is awareness of the present with acceptance.