The Altruism Scale: A Measure of Co-operative, Individualistic, and Competitive Interpersonal Orientation

Consider an interaction situation with various outcomes whose values to two individuals, Person and Other, are imperfectly correlated (as in non-zero-sum games). Let the welfare of Person be P and that of Other be O. Then if Person is purely co-operative, be maximizes P + O; if purely competitive, he maximizes P - O; and if purely individualistic, he maximizes P alone. More generally, he maximizes P + aO, where a (altruism) normally ranges from 1.0 to -1.0. To assess a, Person either directly estimates its value on a scale from 1.0 to -1.0 or ranks his preferences for various outcomes for himself and for Other. Both measures show that (1) three college groups all differentiate among friend, stranger, and antagonist, (2) YMCA college students are generally more positively oriented toward the other's welfare-friend, stranger, or antagonist, (3) business students maximize their own reward more, and (4) social science students differentiate most between friends and antagonists.