Why Do We Help Others?

Why Do We Help Others?

Helping others takes effort. Carrying boxes for a friend, volunteering, or even just listening to someone vent all demand time and energy. So what actually motivates us to help - especially when there’s nothing in it for us?

That’s the question researchers explored in a recent JNeurosci study on people with Parkinson’s disease (a condition treated with dopamine-boosting medication).

For context: dopamine is a brain chemical linked to motivation and pleasure. It’s what pushes us to chase rewards for ourselves - but could it also motivate us to help others?

To find out, scientists asked Parkinson’s patients to complete a simple experiment on two different days:

• On day 1, they took their usual dopamine medication. On day 2, they skipped it.

• Each time, they made a choice: do more work for a bigger reward, or don’t work and get a small reward.

• Sometimes, the reward was for them. Other times, it was for a stranger. This setup helped test how much effort people were willing to put in for someone else’s benefit.

The results: When participants were off their medication, they were far less likely to choose the harder task if the reward went to someone else. But when they were on their dopamine medication, they became more willing to work for the stranger’s reward.

In short, higher dopamine levels made people less self-focused and more motivated to help others.

One way to look at this is that helping others starts with helping yourself. When your own mind and body are in balance, your natural motivation to care for others flows more easily.