Kristin Ohlsen writes in “Love Doctors” (Utne magazine, January/February 2005) that in many psychology textbooks, case studies on altruism are only discussed in “those chapters that concentrate on abnormal behavior.” Yet, as Ms. Ohlsen acknowledges, skeptical treatments of research on selflessness and love as natural phenomena are not dominating research as much as they once had.

The Institute of Research Into Unlmited Love (IRUL), a Cleveland-based organization, awards grants to researchers who examine the origins and effects of altruistic love. Among their first objectives is to raise the scientific credibility of scholarship on love and inspire new ways of thinking about selfless behavior.    

“Is being selfless as much a part of being human as selfishness?” asks Stephen Post, director of IRUL and a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University. “… Freud thought human nature was nothing but a seething, boiling cauldron of self-interest, and Skinner concluded from his rat studies that human motivation was based on pleasure stimulation. These viewpoints were based on bad science and jaded pedagogical speculation, but they created a tremendous burden of proof for anyone who wanted to say otherwise.”

The IRUL, which has awarded millions in grant awards since its formation in July 2001, appears unstopped by burdens of proof they may face.  Most recently, they hosted a three-day conference entitled “The Love That Does Justice” with the Ford Foundation’s Governance and Civil Society Unit.

Says Stephanie Preston, a grant recipient and psychologist at the University of Iowa: “… the overarching goal of learning about how people can feel love for other people is new and could have great implications for society.”

Toyin