No Such Thing as a Selfless Good Deed?

(blog 3)

I am a big fan of the tv show Friends. Today when we were discussing pro social behavior and the difference between "egolistic helping" and "altruistic helping," I thought of a particular Friends episode that discusses this topic.

As we have learned, egolistic helping is when a person does a good deed but expects something in return. Altruistic helping is when someone does a good deed but doesn't expect anything in return.

In the Friends episode "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS", Joey and Phoebe debate as to whether there is such thing as a selfless good deed, or what we would call altruistic helping. Joey claims that if you do a good deed, it makes you feel good. Therefore, it is not selfless and is in fact selfish, or egolistic as we would say. Phoebe argues that altruistic good deeds do exist, and is determined to prove it to Joey.

You can see part of the episode below. The poster of this video is analyzing the same topic.



Later in the show, Phoebe calls Joey to tell him that she finally found a selfless good deed. It goes like this:

Phoebe: [on phone] I have found a selfless good deed. I went to the park and let a bee sting me.
Joey Tribbiani: How is that a selfless good deed?
Phoebe: It makes the bee look tough in front of his bee friends. The bee's happy and I am definitely not.
Joey Tribbiani: Uh, Pheebs, you know the bee probably died after it stung you?
Phoebe: [stares blankly] ...Dammit.
[hangs up]

I believe that the Friends characters are right about this in some ways. I do think that when a person does a good deed, it makes them feel good inside. Even if someone does not expect anything in return, knowing that they did a good deed makes them feel better about themself. Therefore, even altruistic helping is egolistic to an extent. The reward that a person is getting in return may not be external, but internal.

So the difference between the two is that egolistic acts are done with the expectation that they will receive recognition or a reward, and altruistic acts are done knowing that it will make you feel better about yourself, but you don't expect anything from others.

Some people may be addicted to the feeling that they get when they help others, and this might be a motive for performing altruistic deeds.

What do you think? Are altruistic behaviors done because they make the person feel good inside, or are they purely selfless? Is there such thing as a selfless good deed? If so, can you think of an example?