The Science of Selflessness

WHILE EMPATHY IS NECESSARY, THE RESEARCH SHOWS IT IS FAR FROM SUFFICIENT.

To get a sense of how the world views extraordinary altruism, consider what you go through if you want to donate a kidney to a stranger.

Naturally, transplant centers demand rigorous screening to be sure donors are healthy enough to undergo surgery, and that they’re not being paid to give up their organs (which is illegal in almost every country). But as the number of unrelated would-be living kidney donors rose from 6.5% of the total in 1996 to roughly 23% today, transplant centers got worried. Why were people with neither a biologic nor emotional relationship with a recipient stepping up like this?

Surgeons argue they need psychological evaluation of prospective donors, because living kidney donation “caused concern” about “donor psychological status and motivation.” Be on the lookout, they warn, for