Altruism as an attitude desirable for society - upbringing demands

Abstract

Altruism denotes acting for the sake of other people. It is a favor which is conscious, voluntary and selfless. Understood as help, altruism can be offered in different areas of a human’s life. Its main idea relies on giving material, informational, emotional and spiritual help. It should be emphasized that altruism is of very universal character, because its fundamental assumption is to care for every human being regardless of their social background, culture or nationality and world outlook. Developing altruistic patterns of behavior among children and youth may be an effective counterbalance to the commonly encountered egoistic relations and growing indifference for the needs of other people. The shaping of altruistic behaviors is a challenge for both parents – natural educators, and teachers – professional educators. Creating effective educational influence always require a just diagnosis of the start point. This is why in this article, apart from genesis and development of altruism, the author presented opinion of modern youth about this form of human activity. This article shows experience of young people connected with altruism. Practical conclusion for parents and teachers, that may be a proposition to create altruism – shaping influence on children was also presented in this research.