Farsides, Tom, Smith, Claire F and Sparks, Paul (2021) Beyond “Altruism motivates body donation”. Death Studies. pp. 1-9. ISSN 0748-1187

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Abstract

Altruism is consistently identified as the dominant motive for body donation. Over 12 months, 843 people who requested body donation information packs also completed research questionnaires that included open-ended questions about their motives. Abductive analysis suggested two distinct sets of altruistic motives: those seeking benefits for medical professionals and patient groups (“medical altruism”) and those seeking benefits for friends and family (“intimate altruism”). Either could facilitate or impede body donation. Altruism may not be best understood as a unitary motive invariably promoting body donation. Rather, it is a characteristic of various motives, each of which seek benefits for specific beneficiaries.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	altruism, decision making, body donation, family process, prosocial behaviour
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	16 Nov 2021 07:48
Last Modified:	08 Dec 2021 10:45
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/102939

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