IndexIntroductionAltruism in infancy and childhoodAltruism in adolescenceAltruism in adulthoodAltruism in old ageConclusionReferencesIntroductionAltruism is defined as the voluntary way understood to benefit one or more people without expecting external rewards. Altruism in its simplest form can be explained as an action or behavior aimed at benefiting another person. Its origin comes from the French word "altruisme" when translated into Latin "alteri" means other people or someone else where August comte is the first to coin this term. But how exactly is altruism meant? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayTwo of the first theories proposed by evolutionists to understand such behavior came from the theory of kin selection, the act of protecting one's genes for the next generation by helping kin and reducing reproductive fitness (Hamilton, 1964) and the theory of reciprocity, that is, helping to the extent that one expects the help of others, other unrelated individuals being the ones who largely constitute evolutionary altruism. Furthermore, altruism in the field of psychology has attracted the attention of many researchers, thus leading to the debate whether altruism in humans is true in nature, that is, psychological altruism. Closely associated is the term empathy (i.e. the emotional response to the perceived difficult situation of another person) which has led to the empathy-altruism hypothesis which concerns psychological altruism. This theory is the core of the value extension model which states that humans are capable of placing more value on their own well-being where the evolution of empathic concern in mammals, particularly humans, increases the likelihood of helping others person. Nonetheless, selfishness (a motive to be pursued by placing oneself at the center and ignoring the concerns of others), the exact opposite, is believed to fuel some forms of altruistic behavior (Wallach, 1983). Selfishly motivated altruism operates when helping the person receives public praise or monetary reward for the good done, when one avoids social or personal punishment for not helping and helps others in order to lessen one's sense of personal torment. However, in the words of Piliavin and Chang, 1990, recent theories and data are compatible with the view of true altruism in which acting with the goal of benefiting others exists as part of human nature and is an example of positive psychology in action. But does this mean that altruism plays out the same way in various stages of life such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age so to speak? The following article aims to study altruism in the temporal progression of life from beginning to end – the sequence of life stages. The following article is organized as follows, section 1 covers the study of altruism in children aged 0 to 12 years, section 2 reviews studies of altruism in adolescence, section 3 investigates altruism in adult until the late 50s and section 4 explains the prevalence of altruism in old age or late adulthood. Altruism in Infancy and Childhood The period from infancy to childhood can be classified as the first stage of life where the child learns many important skills such as walking, talking and even socializing. Since altruism is a social behavior, it is no exception and is evident in human children who fall under the term prosocial behavior. A study conducted by Simmer (1971) and laterreplicated by Sagi & Hoffman (1976) established that 2-3 day old infants cried while listening to recordings of other infants' crying compared to synthetic crying with the same acoustic properties implying genuine altruistic behavior caused by distress in others children. By 18-24 months, children are more aware of their emotions, their environment and the frequency with which they help others increases as they engage in activities such as carrying things that they associate with comfort even if they are ineffective for the person in difficulty and this sequence has been observed in several studies. A two-year longitudinal study conducted by Zahn Waxer, Cummings, Mcknew, Radke-yarrow (1984 ) revealed that even a mentally ill parent did not increase the frequency of altruistic behavior in the child, despite opportunities for empathic arousal implying that, whatever the innate tendency, a faulty attachment with the caregiver has negative effects on the development of altruism. Studies have shown that young children begin to discriminate in altruistic acts, and by preschool age they moderate altruistic acts according to social norms and rules. When asked to explain their motivation for helping, sharing, and comforting others, they reported it was their desire to help, the needs of the recipient, and in some cases the cited friendship or desire for social acceptance. Experiments conducted with children aged 6-10 years in In the experiment on public goods, compared with the behavior of adults, it was found that the contributions made by young children in the experiment were seen by them as investments with high returns, while those of older children as well as adults learned to ride freely. It was concluded that children's preferences for altruism were less well-informed than those of adults and that empathic concern only increases as the child matures. Altruism in adolescence The second phase of the cycle is when the child becomes an adult and the main objective is self-exploration and discovery. Studies on altruism in adolescents began in the 1960s and 1970s, and a number of essential elements such as empathy, sympathy, moral judgment, and perceived competence were identified and increased during childhood, which has led researchers to believe increased levels of altruism as these predictors of altruism increased. Studies have shown that with greater children's strength and knowledge, caregivers expected more responsibilities in helping or caring for others, especially in the case of younger siblings at home (Hannah & Midlarsky, 1984). Parental attitudes and styles impact the child's prosocial and altruistic nature (Berk, 2000). Studies concluded that parents are important for prosocial behavior, and parental warmth, sympathy, and moral reasoning were predictors. Children have been found to be prosocial with more secure attachment relationships with parents; where parents avoid punitive and severe discipline; when they use reasoning and provide explanations; where they are sensitive to their children's needs and where they support their children's experience and emotion regulation (Hastings et al., 2000). On the other hand, punishments and punitive assistance are found to be negatively correlated with adolescents' pro-social behavior. A study conducted by Green & Scheinder in 1974 found that elementary school children's altruistic activity increased, as they were more willing to share candy with age (especially from ages 14 to 16). A study conducted by Dr. Arun Kumar investigated altruism in senior secondary students. with the help ofexperiments and found that it is a function of gender where female students have higher levels of altruism than male students. Another study of 1,105 Chinese students from 20 high schools in Hong Kong investigated age-related effects and gender-related differences in adolescents' altruistic behavior. The results obtained were consistent with Berndt (1985), Collins & Getz (1975) indicating a positive effect of age on altruistic behavior. However, no significant gender differences were found which was in line with Ma & Leung's 1992 study on Chinese students. In addition to these, it was also found that students' education levels were associated with participation in volunteer activities, and adolescents who joined volunteer activities sequentially reported more altruistic behavior (Chou & KL, 1998). Adulthood La third stage plays a significant role in an individual's life and they face challenges, social and financial pressures and where they want to settle in life by having children of their own. A study was conducted to investigate competitive altruism using mate choice with the help of a dyadic task similar to the prisoner's dilemma and was studied with 31 women and 23 men from Cornell University. It was found that participants in the task were more generous when The competition for choice was reserved for the social partners and was different for the 3 groups and was further supported by the incentive for partner choice, thus indicating partner choice as a way for competitive altruism in adults. Parenting, education, employment, and engagement in various helping roles tend to increase empathy, altruistic motivation, and, consequently, altruistic behavior in adults (Wundheiler, 1985-1986). With such experiences, maturity or ego development is bound to occur to the extent that an individual is capable of making voluntary choices free of constraints imposed by social roles that lead to genuine altruism. Both Erik Erikson's (1950) and Loevinger's (1976) conceptualizations of ego development postulate that adults move through stages resolving self-conflicts and life crises that free the individual from constraints and then orienting toward concern for others, i.e. altruism. given that the progression from adult to more advanced individuals makes use of more mature defenses such as altruism and this may be closely related to the Alderian construct of social interest. A study by Rushton, Fuller, Neale, Nias & Eysenck, 1986 established that altruism has been found to increase and decrease aggression with the help of well-standardized self-report measures. Altruism in old age This is the stage where the individual has achieved wisdom and benevolence and this stage marks the beginning of departure for the life cycle of the human being. Evidence for altruistic activity comes from naturalistic observation and one such example is the study conducted by Midlarsky & Hannah, 1989 which examines the relationship between age and generosity from childhood to old age in shopping malls and parks frequently visited by different ages . It was found that the frequency of donations from the older population, i.e. 65 years and above, was highest, followed by younger age groups and then middle-aged adults. Furthermore, it was found that when donations were not monetary but required time and effort, older people were not only the most frequent donors but also donated more generously than any other age group. Another research conducted studied rescue behavior using announcement aids and extensive CPR sessions and it was found that.69-96.