The Level of Altruism and the Feeling of the Sense of Life

Abstract

The paper is a report of the empirical research concerning the relation between altruism and the feeling of the sense of life. Altruism is taken here to mean an action for the sake of other people regardless of any external awards áMacaulay, Berkowitz 1970 p. 3ñ. On the basic of the research by means of the Questionnaire A-N ácomp. S´ liwak 1988ñ and on the basis of quartile deviation there have been distinguished two extreme groups: of a low level of altruism (NA) and of a high level of altruism (WA). Making use of the test by J. G. Crumbaugh and L. T. Maholicka allowed to obtain answers for the following questions: 1. Which group achieves the highest feeling of the sense of life? 2. Are there any relevant statistical differences between the groups of a low and high level of altruism as regards the intensive manner in which they experience their feeling of the sense of life? 3. Does sex variable influence the relation between the level of altruism and the feeling of the sense of life?

The results of 153 persons have been subjected to analysis. The age of those people ranged between 20 and 39 years (M = 26,8). They were graduates of secondary schools or universities. It has been reported that:
1. Persons of a high level of altruism differ essentially from the persons of a low level of altruism in view of the feeling of the sense of life (p = 0,002).
2. The altruistic persons have essentially higher feeling of the sense of life than the persons of a low level of altruism. The mean result in group WA (M = 112,05) testifies to that those persons have clear cut aims in their life. Putting them into practice gives them the feeling of the sense of their own existence. On the other hand, the mean result of group NA (M = 99,42) point to the fact that here the feeling of the sense of life is relatively low. Then existential frustration and lack of clear definite aims in life are possible in these persons.
3. The difference between women from these two extreme groups turned out to be statistically crucial (p = 0,005). No essentially statistical differences between men have been reported, though.

The research results have proved that there is a relation between the level of altruism and the feeling of the sense of life, especially in the population of women.