Altruistic behaviors are “unselfish” behaviors—those that help another individual at the expense of the individual carrying out the behavior. Despite the negative consequences for the altruistic animal, these behaviors are thought to have evolved for several reasons.

Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people is called prosocial behavior. Why do people help other people? Is personal benefit such as feeling good about oneself the only reason people help one another?

Nurses are responsible for caring for patients during birth, death, illness, and healing. Professional values guide the decisions and actions that nurses make in their careers. If nurses know the decisions and actions to take, providing patients with exceptional care is possible.
The values that are the foundation of the nursing profession are altruism, autonomy, human dignity, and social justice.
First, altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well-being of others without personal...

One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.  

Self-serving bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which individuals attribute positive outcomes to internal factors such as their abilities, intelligence, or effort while attributing negative outcomes to external circumstances. This cognitive distortion helps maintain self-esteem but can also impede objective self-assessment.Theoretical Explanations of Self-Serving BiasTwo primary theories explain the self-serving bias: the cognitive explanation and the motivational explanation.The cognitive...

Ethical principles are essential in guiding nurses to fulfill their responsibilities, focusing on the quality of nursing care and decision-making. These principles, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and fidelity, shape the ethical framework within healthcare settings.
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's...