Compassion vs. extreme individualism: Dawkin's "selfish gene" theory - "genetic selfishness will generally give rise to selfishness w/ limited form of altruism falls short vs. compassion: studies: Saslow, Sprecher-Fehr, &  Oxford Handbook of Compassion & Saslow: kin selection theories fall short
Creators: name: Peck Jr, Charles E.
Publisher: name: Knowledge Commons
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Compassion in literature
subject: Compassion--Religious aspects--Christianity
subject: Compassion--Religious aspects--Buddhism
subject: Compassion
subject: Selfish gene (Dawkins, Richard)
subject: National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Genetics Study Section
subject: Harvard University. Organismic &amp; Evolutionary Biology
subject: Evolutionary genetics
subject: Evolutionary psychology
subject: Evolutionary developmental biology

description: "This is a powerful critique of Dawkins' concept of the "selfish gene" [which departs from Darwin's viewpoint on instincts]. Your approach highlights the essential contradiction between extreme individualism, rooted in biological explanations, and sympathetic social building forces. Your view that Dawkins' genetic selfishness is a "fallacy" is interesting. By anthropomorphizing genes as inherently selfish, Dawkins risks oversimplifying the complex interplay between biological drives and environmental factors. This approach does lead to the 'academic norms' you mention, whereby some people believe that genetic selfishness justifies certain antisocial or competitive behaviours." (Lilly Columbia University)
Saslow explains that both the standard and kin selection theories fall short of a proper model of altruistic behavior.in terms of evolutionary traits.  "Although useful, these theories do not fully explain why individuals would behave altruistically toward strangers in anonymous contexts in which there is little chance of future reciprocity or reputational gain." 
The model that Baumeister and Leary offer is in complete contrast to Dawkin's model. As the prominent social psychologists, Baumeister and Leary, point out, "Groups can share food, provide mates, and help care for offspring (including orphans). Some survival tasks such as hunting large animals or maintaining defensive vigilance against predatory enemies, are best accomplished by group cooperation…. Competition for limited resources could also provide a powerful stimulus to forming interpersonal connections."  (p.499 need) The need to belong is deeply rooted in human consciousness. Baumeister emphasizes that the need to belong is a powerful need, and not just a want. While people can go for long periods of time abstaining from sex without dire consequences, the absence of social interaction can have lethal consequences. "One very important motivation that lies on the boundary between natural and cultural motivations is the need to belong to social groups. It is apparent that people have a deeply rooted need to have contact with other people."  (p14 Meanings) "We [Baumeister and Leary] suggest that belongingness can be almost as compelling a need as food and that human culture is significantly conditioned by the pressure to provide belongingness."  (p 498 need)
Models/Maps
•	"Proper knowledge maps or mirrors the actualities of the real world!!"   – Kenneth Gergen
•	"To understand something, whether we are aware of it or not, depends on choosing a model."  - Iain McGilchrist
The human need to make sense of the world underpins all psychological and social psychological theories in one sense or another – and without doubt relates in part to the underlying needs and requirements of physiology and the human brain. Similar to Geertz and Frankl, Gergen believed that the "need to conceptualize," - or alternately - the drive to understand and need for meaning, is as strong as any biological need. Gergen argues that situations which human beings didn't understand or deal with appropriately would inflict painful lessons – providing a conditioning or predisposition for learning. "In the Darwinian sense, the ability to conceptualize has survival value."  (p.23) Gergen goes on to speculate as to a potential functional "reason" for God: "Perhaps events for which there were no available categories, necessitated developing the concept of God."  (p.24)