Considerazioni teoriche. Strutturali e temporali per comprendere le motivazioni altruistiche dei donatori di sangue

Journal title RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA
Author/s Eamonn Ferguson
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2012/4
Language Italian Pages 12 P. 713-724 File size 195 KB
DOI 10.3280/RIP2012-004009
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A fuller understanding of ‘altruism’ associated with blood donation requires understanding how the mechanisms of altruism described by theoretical models in biology, economics and psychology pertain to blood donor behaviour. In a brief overview of the literature I identify seven classes of mechanism and use these to describe the structural geography of blood donors’ altruistic motivational mechanisms. I argue that games from behavioural economics, such as dictator games, should start to be used as behavioural indices of altruistic preferences to supplement self-reports. Indeed, an open question is whether self-reported motivations or behavioural preference are better predictors of future donation. I further develop a series of temporal questions concerning the stability of such motives across the donor career and their changing pattern of prediction. Finally, I discuss methods of demonstrating the causal status of motivations and associated interventions.

La comprensione dei meccanismi altruistici associati alla donazione di sangue chiede di comprendere come i meccanismi descritti dai modelli teorici utilizzati nelle scienze biologiche, economiche e psicologiche siano pertinenti anche alla donazione di sangue. Attraverso una breve panoramica della letteratura, l'autore si sofferma su sette categorie, al fine di descrivere la forma strutturale dei meccanismi motivazionali altruistici dei donatori di sangue. Oltre a cio l'autore sostiene che, ad integrazione degli usuali strumenti self report, i giochi di economia comportamentale, come il Dictator Game, dovrebbero essere utilizzati quali indici comportamentali di preferenze altruistiche. A proposito di predittori di futura donazione, e dibattuta la questione se optare per le motivazioni auto riportate o per le preferenze comportamentali. Per ulteriori approfondimenti in questa direzione, e necessario considerare come gli elementi temporali incidano sulla stabilita delle motivazioni durante la "carriera" dei donatori, oltre che arricchire la riflessione sui metodi utilizzati per dimostrare la connessione tra lo stato causale delle motivazioni e gli interventi ad essi associati.

Keywords: Mechanisms of altruism, blood donors, economic games, motivations to donate blood, willingness.

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Eamonn Ferguson, The mechanism of altruism: theoretical, structural and temporal considerations for understanding blood donor altruistic motivations il meccanismo dell'altruismo: in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 4/2012, pp 713-724, DOI: 10.3280/RIP2012-004009