Definition
“Heroic rescue” occurs when an individual places himself/herself at risk to save another person in a life-threatening emergency situation.
Introduction
When defining altruism, social scientists usually focus on the intentions of the altruist, and their research has traditionally attempted to isolate the situational factors that determine when people will behave altruistically. Five decades of research have identified the importance of such factors as empathy, rewards, emotional states, social norms, and the number of bystanders in influencing helping behavior. Social science models of altruism do not address the question of why basic motives such as empathy and various situational factors came to be so important. In fact, even most social psychologists continue to study altruism and other social behaviors with little reference to the origins and ultimate functions of altruism, which have...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bereczkei, T., Birkas, B., & Kerekes, Z. (2010). Altruism toward strangers in need: Costly signaling in an industrial society. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 95–103.
Bliege Bird, R. B., & Smith, E. A. (2005). Signaling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology, 46, 221–248.
Boone, J. L. (1998). The evolution of magnanimity: When is it better to give than to receive? Human Nature, 9, 1–21.
Brown, W. M., & Moore, C. (2000). Is prospective altruist-detection an evolved solution to the adaptive problem of subtle cheating in cooperative ventures? Supportive evidence using the Wason Selection Task. Evolution and Human Behavior, 21, 25–38.
Chagnon, N. A. (2013). The Yanomamo (6th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Farrelly, D., Lazarus, J., & Roberts, G. (2007). Altruists attract. Evolutionary Psychology, 5, 313–329.
Farthing, G. W. (2005). Attitudes toward heroic and nonheroic physical risk takers as mates and as friends. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 171–185.
Grafen, A. (1990). Biological signals as handicaps. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 144, 517–546.
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Sundie, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Miller, G. F., & Kenrick, D. T. (2007). Blatant benevolence and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 85–102.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical theory of social behavior. I and II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–32.
Hardy, C., & van Vugt, M. (2006). Nice guys finish first: The competitive altruism hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1402–1413.
Iredale, W., & van Vugt, M. (2009). The peacock’s tail of altruism. The Psychologist, 22, 938–941.
Iredale, W., Van Vugt, M., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Showing off in humans: Male generosity as a mating signal. Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 386–392.
Kelly, S., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2001). Who dares, wins. Heroism versus altruism in women’s mate choice. Human Nature, 12, 89–105.
Lyons, M. (2005). Who are the heroes? Characteristics of people who rescue others. Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology, 3, 239–248.
McAndrew, F. T. (2002). New evolutionary perspectives on altruism: Multilevel-selection and costly-signaling theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 79–82.
McAndrew, F. T., & Perilloux, C. (2012a). Is self-sacrificial competitive altruism primarily a male activity? Evolutionary Psychology, 10, 50–65.
McAndrew, F. T., & Perilloux, C. (2012b). The selfish hero: A study of the individual benefits of self-sacrificial prosocial behavior. Psychological Reports, 111, 27–43.
Mealey, L., Daood, C., & Krage, M. (1996). Enhanced memory for faces of cheaters. Evolution and Human Behavior, 17, 119–128.
Nowak, M. A., & Sigmund, K. (2005). Evolution of indirect reciprocity. Nature, 437, 1291–1298.
Philbrick, N. (2010). The last stand: Custer, sitting bull, and the battle of the little bighorn. New York: Viking Press.
Roberts, G. (1998). Competitive altruism: From reciprocity to the handicap principle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 265, 427–431.
Rusch, H., Leunissen, J. M., & van Vugt, M. (2015). Historical and experimental evidence of sexual selection for war heroism. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36, 367–373.
Sylwester, K., & Pawlowski, B. (2011). Daring to be darling: Attractiveness of risk takers as partners in long- and short-term sexual relationships. Sex Roles, 64, 695–706.
Sylwester, K., & Roberts, G. (2010). Cooperators benefit through reputation-based partner choice in economic games. Biology Letters, 6, 659–662.
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2010). Groups in mind: The coalitional roots of war and morality. In H. Høgh-Olson (Ed.), Human morality and sociality: Evolutionary & comparative perspectives (pp. 191–234). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46, 35–57.
Van Vugt, M., & Hardy, C. L. (2010). Cooperation for reputation: Wasteful contributions as costly signals in public goods. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 13, 101–111.
Van Vugt, M., David De Cremer, D., & Janssen, D. P. (2007). Gender differences in cooperation and competition: The male-warrior hypothesis. Psychological Science, 18, 19–23.
Willer, R. (2009). Groups reward individual sacrifice: The status solution to the collective action problem. American Sociological Review, 74, 23–43.
Wingfield, J. C., Hegner, R. E., Dufty, A. M., Jr., & Ball, G. F. (1990). The “challenge hypothesis”: Theoretical implications for patterns of testosterone secretion, mating systems, and breeding strategies. American Naturalist, 136, 829–846.
Zahavi, A. (1977). Reliability in communication systems and the evolution of altruism. In B. Stonehouse & C. M. Perrins (Eds.), Evolutionary ecology (pp. 253–259). London: MacMillan Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
McAndrew, F.T. (2021). Heroic Rescue in Humans. In: Shackelford, T.K., Weekes-Shackelford, V.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_1558
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_1558
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19649-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19650-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences