Altruism across people parallels self-control across time
Evidence
Altruism (over social space) corresponds to self-control (over time). In both cases, one must learn to ignore the rewards to a particular (person or moment) and behave to maximize the rewards to a group (of people or moments). — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 495
Categorization
- DEFINE: Frames the conceptual equivalence between learning to be altruistic toward others and learning to be self-controlled toward one’s future self.
- SEED: Could fuel an essay on religious moral enforcement (fumi-e, Big God surveillance) as a training regime that teaches the same discounting pattern across social and temporal dimensions.
- ADDENDUM: Directly serves the reader’s fumi-e analysis: trampling the image is a public act that destroys partner-choice credibility in social space, while the priest’s self-denial is self-control over time—same learned pattern.
- XREF: connects to: Moral behavior depends on self-control, but kin altruism does not. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 249; The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354; Self-regulation explains long-term enterprise generally, not moral sense specifically. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 655 (+1 more)
Related
- Moral behavior depends on self-control, but kin altruism does not. (similarity 0.83)
- Self-regulation, not fairness alone, enables prosocial culture. (similarity 0.82)
- Altruism can be learned analogously to biological evolution (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Moral behavior depends on self-control, but kin altruism does not.
#complicates(0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 249 - The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons
#expands(0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354