Altruistic Aptitude: Age-Dependent Influence of Temperament and Emotional Intelligence

It is unclear why some people behave altruistically and others do not. This study seeks to determine what psychological features could help predict altruistic behavior. We addressed the issue by examining distinct dimensions of temperament and emotional intelligence and their associations with the level of proaltruistic aptitude in two distant age-groups, young (20–29 years) and senior (60–79 years) persons. The study was one of a self-reported psychometric survey. The major findings were that emotional intelligence, rather than temperament, is strongly associated with the expression of altruistic behavior in both young and senior subjects, despite a general decrease in the characteristics …