PubMed · 11242976
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D Gayes. 2001. Physician spouses making a difference.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11242976/
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We investigated whether names in common promote altruistic behaviour, predicting that this would be especially so for relatively uncommon names, for surnames (which are better kinship cues than first names), and among women (who, although less willing than men to help strangers, according to prior research, are also the primary "kin keepers"). We solicited help from 2960 email addressees, with the request ostensibly coming from a same-sex person sharing both, either, or neither of the addressee's first and last names. As anticipated, addressees were most likely to respond helpfully when senders shared both their names (12.3%) and least likely when they shared neither (2.0%), and this was especially true for relatively uncommon names. A shared surname was more effective than a shared first name only if it was relatively uncommon. Women were substantially more likely to reply than men. These results indicate that names elicit altruism because they function as salient cues of kinship.
Human cooperation is an evolutionary puzzle. Unlike other creatures, people frequently cooperate with genetically unrelated strangers, often in large groups, with people they will never meet again, and when reputation gains are small or absent. These patterns of cooperation cannot be explained by the nepotistic motives associated with the evolutionary theory of kin selection and the selfish motives associated with signalling theory or the theory of reciprocal altruism. Here we show experimentally that the altruistic punishment of defectors is a key motive for the explanation of cooperation. Altruistic punishment means that individuals punish, although the punishment is costly for them and yields no material gain. We show that cooperation flourishes if altruistic punishment is possible, and breaks down if it is ruled out. The evidence indicates that negative emotions towards defectors are the proximate mechanism behind altruistic punishment. These results suggest that future study of the evolution of human cooperation should include a strong focus on explaining altruistic punishment.
The professional development discourse currently circulating in academic medicine owes much to the work of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and their Project Professionalism. They identify the elements of altruism, duty, excellence, honor and integrity, accountability, and respect for others as forming the basis of professional development. While an admirable effort, Project Professionalism remains primarily an abstract set of attitudes and behaviors with a number of vignettes that are of limited use to medical educators attempting to foster the development of professionalism in medical students. This paper outlines an approach to professional development grounded in medical narratives written by physicians, including memoirs, essays, and poetry, that may help students grapple with the challenges of medicine that involve those very elements put forth by ABIM. An argument is made that literature may be a superior medium for engagement with these elements because of its ability to evoke discomfort and vulnerability in ways the case report does not.