How selfish are we really? - Jo Brand, Matti Wilks and Steve Jones

What It Covers

Brian Cox and Robin Ince explore altruism with psychologist Matti Wilks, geneticist Steve Jones, and comedian Jo Brand, examining whether humans are genuinely selfless or driven by evolutionary self-interest across cultures and species.

Key Questions Answered

• •Early moral development: Children as young as six months prefer helpers over hinderers in experiments, showing innate prosocial awareness, though they become more group-focused as they age before potentially expanding moral circles again compared to adults.
• •Blood donation systems: Countries with unpaid voluntary blood donation systems like Britain produce safer blood supplies than paid systems like the US, where financial incentives historically attracted high-risk donors and reduced intrinsic motivation to give altruistically.
• •Identifiable victim effect: People donate more money to help one named individual child than eight anonymous children because larger numbers trigger scope insensitivity, making it harder to emotionally connect with suffering at scale or understand proportional impact.
• •Reciprocal altruism foundation: Human civilization requires pure altruism beyond family groups, enabled by language which reduces tension and allows assessment of others' attitudes, distinguishing humans from chimps who would fight to death on public transport.