In evolutionary biology, an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behaviour benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself. The costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness, or expected number of offspring. So by behaving altruistically, an organism reduces the number of offspring it is likely to produce itself, but boosts the number that other organisms are likely to produce. This biological notion of altruism is not identical to the everyday concept.
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Jeffrey A Fletcher
For a focal genotype of interest to increase in frequency in a population, carriers must, on average, end up with more net direct fitness benefits than average population members. This net direct fitness must account not only for any costs and/or benefits to the focal carrier due to its own behaviour associated with the trait, but also for any fitness benefits received from other individuals
royalsocietypublishing.org
jc100
When you examine altruism closely, it becomes clear that there is always a self serving motive present. That doesn't diminish the societal value of altruistic acts, but is the honest way to view human motivation.
chronicle.com
Samir Okasha
Altruism is a well understood topic in evolutionary biology; the theoretical ideas explained above have been extensively analysed, empirically confirmed, and are widely accepted.
stanford.edu
