SCIENCE
Exploring altruism: What makes people help others?

IN THE NORTHEAST
• David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University of the State University of New York who has written and spoken extensively about evolution and human behaviors, including altruism, gossip and decision-making in groups. He co-wrote Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard University, 1998). Contact 607-777-4393, dwilson@binghamton.edu.
• William Scott Green is professor of religion and dean at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. Green says that altruism is a secular, not religious, impulse. Contact 585-273-5001, wmsg@admin.rochester.edu.

IN THE EAST
• Eva Fogelman is a social psychologist, psychotherapist and author of Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust (Anchor Doubleday, 1994), a Pulitzer Prize nominee. The book is based on the Rescuer Project, commissioned by the American Jewish Committee to determine whether altruism is the opposite of the authoritarian personality. Fogelman approaches altruism as a behavior that is influenced by the convergence of an individual's personality, socialization and situation. She is the founding director of Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which aids 1,600 rescuers in more than 26 countries who risked their lives to save Jews without financial or other reward. She has organized national and international conferences on rescuers of Jews. Contact 212-315-5872, EvaFogelman@aol.com.
• Allan Luks is executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in New York City and former director of the Institute for the Advancement of Health. He is an author of The Healing Power of Doing Good (Fawcett Columbine, 1992) and coined the phrase "helper's high" in Psychology Today to describe feelings of well-being reported by individuals doing good for others. Contact 212-686-2042, Allan@bigsnyc.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Timothy Jackson, professor of Christian ethics at Emory University's Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, focuses on moral philosophy and theology, especially the relationship between secular and Christian conceptions of goodness, justice and mercy. He has written about altruism. Contact 404-727-2494, tjack05@emory.edu.
• Gregory Berns, professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, published results of a brain imaging study that indicated that altruistic behavior has a biological basis. Published in the journal Neuron in July 2002, the study shows that social cooperation activates parts of the brain related to reward and dopamine release. Contact 404-727-2556.

IN THE SOUTH
• David Schroeder is a professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock who has explored whether the motivations for helping other are egoistic or altruistic. He co-wrote The Psychology of Helping and Altruism: Problems and Puzzles (McGraw Hill, 1995). Contact dave@uark.edu.
• Stephen Jacobs is professor of religious studies and chairman of Judaic studies at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He can comment on altruism as a scholar of modern Jewish thought and from a post-Holocaust perspective. Contact 205-348-0473, sjacobs@bama.ua.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Lynn Underwood teaches philosophy at Western Michigan University and is former vice president for health research at the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Mich., where she led research initiatives in altruism and compassionate love. She co-edited Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue (Oxford University Press, 2002). She has done research on compassionate love, and works with the World Health Organization examining the contribution of altruism to quality of life across cultures. Contact 239-385-3648, lynnunderwood@researchintegration.org.
• Dan Batson is a professor of psychology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence who has studied empathy as a possible source of altruistic motivation. He is exploring psychological implications of the egoism-altruism relationship and considering other forms of positive social motivation, such as collectivism and principalism. He wrote The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer (Erlbaum, 1991) and "Addressing the Altruism Question Experimentally" in Altruism and Altruistic Love (Oxford University Press, 2002). Contact 785-864-5696, dbatson@ku.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Ruben Habito is a professor of world religions and spirituality at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is co-editor of the forthcoming The Practice of Altruism: Caring and Religion in a Global Perspective (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006). He specializes in Buddhism and wrote a chapter in Altruism in World Religions (Georgetown University Press, 2005). Contact 214-768-4334, rhabito@smu.edu.
• Daniel McGee is a professor of ethics and religious studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He can comment on altruism from an ethical standpoint. Contact 254-710-6316, Daniel_McGee@baylor.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Andrew Flescher is a professor of religious studies at California State University in Chico and director at the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, where he focuses on religion, ethics and society. He is writing a book titled The Benevolent Species: An Interdisciplinary Account of Human Altruism (Templeton Press). Contact 530-894-0549, AFlescher@csuchico.edu.
• University of California at Los Angeles anthropology professor Joan Silk published a study of chimpanzees in the Oct. 27, 2005, Nature that showed that the chimps were motivated to obtain rewards for themselves but not to provide rewards for other group members. In other words, they did not show altruistic behavior, contrary to expectations raised by the fact that they participate in collective activities such as food sharing and hunting. Contact jsilk@anthro.ucla.edu.
• Samuel Oliner is emeritus professor of sociology and director of the Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif. Oliner co-founded the institute in 1982 to study altruism and seek ways to enhance altruism and prosocial behavior in society. A native of Poland, Oliner was rescued by a non-Jewish family at age 12 and has made a lifelong study of altruism. The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe (Free Press) was published in 1988. Do Unto Others: Extraordinary Acts of Ordinary People (Westview Press, 2004) explores what gives an individual a sense of responsibility, what leads to the development of care and compassion, and what it means to put the welfare of others ahead of one's own. Contact 707-825-9681, spo1@humboldt.edu.
• Thomas Jay Oord is professor of theology and philosophy at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, and works with the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. He wrote Science of Love: The Wisdom of Well-Being (Templeton Press, 2004). Contact 208-467-8816, tjoord@NNU.edu.
• William Hurlbut is a physician and professor of human biology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., whose training in medical ethics and theology informs his work on the biological basis of moral awareness, and the integration of theology and philosophy of biology. He edited the forthcoming Becoming Human: Evolutionary Origins of Spiritual, Religious and Moral Awareness. His chapter, "Empathy, Evolution and Altruism," appears in the book he co-edited, Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy and Religion in Dialogue (Oxford University Press, 2002). Contact 650-725-2610, ethics@stanford.edu.