Altruism and Brain Wiring: Treating Empathically Challenged

Author: UCLA
Published: 21 Mar 2016 - Updated: 4 Aug 2026
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed | Research, Study, Analysis

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Overview - FAQs - Insights, Updates - Related Content

Synopsis

This research - a peer-reviewed study from UCLA's neuroscientists - explores how brain activity patterns predict generous behavior and offers insights into the neural foundations of altruism. By examining which brain regions activate during empathy tasks and comparing results to actual giving behavior, the researchers found that individuals with strong responses in areas governing pain perception, emotional processing, and social mimicry gave away roughly 75 percent of money in experimental games, while those with dominant prefrontal cortex activity were notably stingy. Through noninvasive brain stimulation, they further demonstrated that dampening regions responsible for impulse control increased generosity by 50 percent. The findings have practical value for people with conditions affecting empathy or social function, including those recovering from trauma, and suggest that prosocial behavior may be more biologically rooted than previously assumed, with potential pathways for therapeutic intervention.*

At a Glance

• 1 - The dictator game used real Los Angeles residents as recipients, with genuine ages and income levels.
• 2 - The first study scanned 20 participants who imitated faces showing happy, sad, angry, and excited emotions.
• 3 - Dampening the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex made participants give more to higher-income recipients who needed it less.
• 4 - Researchers framed the two philosophical poles through Rousseau's noble savage and Hobbes' view of humans as selfish brutes needing civilization.

Topic Definition

Altruism

Altruism is the principle and moral practice of caring about the welfare and happiness of other people or animals, often expressed through actions that improve their material or emotional wellbeing at some cost or effort to oneself. In psychological terms, it describes a motivational state aimed at increasing another's welfare, which stands in direct contrast to psychological egoism, where the goal is to increase one's own welfare. Neuroscientists studying altruism look at how brain regions tied to empathy, pain perception, and impulse control interact to shape whether a person behaves generously or selfishly, suggesting that prosocial behavior may be more biologically rooted than once believed.

Overview

In the UCLA study, people who had the most robust responses in the areas of the brain associated with perceiving pain and emotion and imitating others were also the most generous.

It's an age-old quandary: Are we born "noble savages" whose best intentions are corrupted by civilization, as the 18th-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau contended? Or are we fundamentally selfish brutes who need civilization to rein in our base impulses, as the 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued?

After exploring the areas of the brain that fuel our empathetic impulses - and temporarily disabling other regions that oppose those impulses - two UCLA neuroscientists are coming down on the optimistic side of human nature.

"Our altruism may be more hard-wired than previously thought," said Leonardo Christov-Moore, a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA's Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Groundbreaking

The findings, reported in two recent studies, also point to a possible way to make people behave in less selfish and more selfless ways, said senior author Marco Iacoboni, a UCLA psychiatry professor. "This is potentially groundbreaking," he said.

For the first study, which was published in February in Human Brain Mapping, 20 people were shown a video of a hand being poked with a pin and then asked to imitate photographs of faces displaying a range of emotions - happy, sad, angry and excited. Meanwhile, the researchers scanned participants' brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging, paying close attention to activity in several brain areas.

One cluster they analyzed - the amygdala, somatosensory cortex, and anterior insula - is associated with experiencing pain and emotion and with imitating others. Two other areas are in the prefrontal cortex, responsible for regulating behavior and controlling impulses.

In a separate activity, participants played the dictator game, which economists and other social scientists often use to study decision-making. Participants are given a certain amount of money to keep for themselves or share with a stranger. In the UCLA study, participants were given $10 per round for 24 rounds, and the recipients were actual Los Angeles residents whose names were changed for the game but whose actual ages and income levels were used.

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Comparison

After each participant had completed the game, researchers compared their payouts with brain scans. Participants with the most activity in the prefrontal cortex proved to be the stingiest, giving away an average of only $1 to $3 per round.

But the one-third of the participants who had the strongest responses in the areas of the brain associated with perceiving pain and emotion and imitating others were the most generous: On average, subjects in that group gave away approximately 75 percent of their bounty. Researchers referred to this tendency as "prosocial resonance" or "mirroring impulse", and they believe the impulse to be a primary driving force behind altruism.

"It's almost like these areas of the brain behave according to a neural Golden Rule," Christov-Moore said. "The more we experience the states of others vicariously, the more we appear inclined to treat them as we would ourselves."

In the second study, published earlier this month in Social Neuroscience, the researchers set out to determine whether the same portions of the prefrontal cortex might be blocking the altruistic mirroring impulse.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

In this study, 58 participants were subjected to 40 seconds of a noninvasive procedure called theta-burst Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, temporarily dampening activity in specific brain regions.

In the 20 participants assigned to the control group, a portion of the brain that had to do with sight was weakened by the theory it would not affect generosity. But in the others, the researchers dampened either the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which combine to block impulses of all varieties.

Christov-Moore said that if people were inherently selfish, weakening those areas of the brain would free people to act more selfishly. Though, study participants with disrupted activity in the brain's impulse control center were 50 percent more generous than members of the control group.

"Knocking out these areas appears to free your ability to feel for others," Christov-Moore said.

The researchers also found that people who chose to give their money changed depending on which part of the prefrontal cortex was dampened. Meanwhile, participants whose dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was dampened tended to be more generous overall. But those whose dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was dampened tended to be more generous to recipients with higher incomes - people who appeared to be less in need of a handout.

"Normally, participants would have been expected to give according to to need, but with that area of the brain dampened, they temporarily lost the ability for social judgments to affect their behavior," Christov-Moore said. "By dampening this area, we believe we naturally laid bare how altruistic each study participant was."

The findings of both studies suggest potential avenues for increasing empathy, which is especially critical in treating people who have experienced desensitizing situations like prison or war.

"The study is an important proof of principle that with a noninvasive procedure, you can make people behave in a more prosocial way," Iacoboni said.

Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE: Researched FAQs by Disabled World (DW)

Is altruism found in animals as well as humans

Yes, many animals display altruistic behaviors such as sharing food, warning others of predators, and caring for unrelated young, which scientists often study to understand the evolutionary roots of selfless action.

Can altruism be learned or is it only innate

Both play a role, since research suggests a biological basis for generous impulses while upbringing, culture, and repeated practice of kindness can strengthen and shape how altruism is expressed.

What is the difference between altruism and empathy

Empathy is the ability to sense and share another person's feelings, while altruism is the actual behavior of helping others, so empathy often motivates altruism but the two are not the same thing.

Does giving to others improve your own wellbeing

Studies indicate that acts of generosity can boost mood, lower stress, and increase feelings of life satisfaction, a pattern sometimes called the helper's high.

Is transcranial magnetic stimulation safe for healthy people

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is generally considered safe when performed under proper supervision, though it can carry mild side effects such as headache or scalp discomfort and is not suitable for everyone.

Are people with autism incapable of altruism

No, autistic individuals are fully capable of caring for and helping others, though they may express empathy and generosity in ways that differ from typical social expectations.

How does altruism differ from simple kindness

Kindness refers to friendly and considerate behavior in general, while altruism specifically involves acting for another's benefit even when it brings no personal gain and may involve some personal cost.

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Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: The implications of this research extend beyond abstract neuroscience: understanding that generosity and cruelty may spring from measurable differences in brain organization challenges us to reconsider how we judge others and ourselves. For individuals struggling with empathetic connection - whether due to autism, acquired brain injury, trauma, or other neurological conditions - these findings offer something beyond blame: they point toward the possibility of intervention and change. The discovery that temporarily disrupting impulse control circuitry unleashes latent altruistic impulses suggests that what appears as selfishness might sometimes be, quite literally, a matter of one neural system drowning out another, a distinction that could reshape how we approach rehabilitation, education, and our basic assumptions about human nature.*

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by UCLA and published on 21 Mar 2016, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.

* Editorial additions by Ian C. Langtree.