What's the difference between altruistic and selfish?

Altruistic


Definition:

  • (a.) Regardful of others; beneficent; unselfish; -- opposed to egoistic or selfish.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Cadavers have a multitude of possible uses--from the harvesting of organs, to medical education, to automotive safety testing--and yet their actual utilization arouses profound aversion no matter how altruistic and beneficial the motivation.
  • (2) In a Facebook post , the songwriter and activist claims that Swift has merely chosen sides in the battle between Google and Spotify, saying that the singer was trying to “sell this corporate power play to us as some sort of altruistic gesture in solidarity with struggling music makers”.
  • (3) Ten of the 16 primary 16PF scores were significantly different and generally described an altruistic but assertive and venturesome propensity to manage others.
  • (4) Whereas some studies have shown that negative mood leads to increases in altruistic action, others have shown the reverse.
  • (5) A two-locus genetic model is studied in which one locus controls the tendency of individuals to act altruistically toward siblings and the other locus controls the mating habits of females.
  • (6) As the way to achievement, it comes into a conflict with the fear of failure, with the co-operation advantages and with the altruistic human drives.
  • (7) It is shown that W. D. Hamilton's condition of increases in inclusive fitness due to altruistic interactions among kin expresses the structural instability of populations against the evolution of altruistic behavior.
  • (8) A simple model shows that this can lead to the selection of "altruistic" traits that favor the fitness of the group over that of the individual.
  • (9) "It's what you do when you have money in the bank and now there is no money in the bank, that kind of pan-tolerance will contract, because it's too altruistic for hard times."
  • (10) Consequences include overwhelming demand for mammography; problems with optimum response by radiology; limited availability of the examination, especially to the socioeconomically disadvantaged; self-referral for mammography by unqualified physicians for less than altruistic reasons; and unrealistic expectations of mammography by women, physicians, and lawyers.
  • (11) In Experiment II, the combined effect of a pair of observed materials (positive or negative altruistic content) was examined.
  • (12) "Of the altruistic instincts, veneration is not the most developed at the present day; but I hold strongly with the statement that it is a sign of a dry age when the great men of the past are held in light esteem".
  • (13) Of course the motivation for visualising your energy use doesn't have to be for altruistic environmental reasons.
  • (14) While mental toughness, and high self-esteem and confidence may seem like a good thing, they also can have an insidious flip-side – namely, narcissistic as opposed to more altruistic, empathy driven motives that better serve the masses.
  • (15) What was perceived as altruistic "adoption" by the penguins was actually closer to "kidnapping", it transpired.
  • (16) Traditionally, Hindu religion has given sanction to certain altruistic suicides.
  • (17) Remember you're human after all While much of the above are technical solutions to prevent you being hacked and scammed, hacking done well is really the skill of tricking human beings, not computers, by preying on their gullibility, taking advantage of our trust, greed or altruistic impulses.
  • (18) Instead, the observed pattern was what would be expected if empathy evokes altruistic motivation to reduce the victim's need.
  • (19) Yet this restriction obviously limits the availability of already scarce donor organs, and curtails the opportunities for altruistic action on the part of those who, in any given case, are not genetically related to the recipient.
  • (20) It has its roots in conflicts of interest between human beings, and in their conflicting urges to behave either selfishly or altruistically.

Selfish


Definition:

  • (a.) Caring supremely or unduly for one's self; regarding one's own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others.
  • (a.) Believing or teaching that the chief motives of human action are derived from love of self.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A series of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed the effects of Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect on evoking upset in spouses through condescension (e.g., treating spouse as stupid or inferior), possessiveness (demanding too much time and attention), abuse (slapping spouse), unfaithfulness (having sex with others), inconsiderateness (leaving toilet seat up), moodiness (crying a lot), alcohol abuse (drinking too much alcohol), emotional constriction (hiding emotions to act tough), and self-centeredness (acting selfishly).
  • (2) They have been selfish, thinking of what they can achieve with gas.
  • (3) For a while yesterday, Hazel Blears's selfishly-timed resignation with her rude "rock the boat" brooch send shudders of revulsion through some in the party.
  • (4) A second level of concerted evolution occurs within the functional L1 sequences in a pattern that did not meet our expectations for selfish DNA.
  • (5) Not only did it make every grocery-store run a guilt trip; it made me feel selfish for caring more about birds in the present than about people in the future.
  • (6) Back in 1999 Chris Sidoti, then-head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, called the baby boomers “the most selfish generation in history”.
  • (7) It said Clinton's "cheap shots" had a hidden agenda to discredit China's engagement with Africa and "drive a wedge between China and Africa for the US selfish gain."
  • (8) We propose that REP sequences may be a prokaryotic equivalent of 'selfish DNA' and that gene conversion may play a role in the evolution and maintenance of REP sequences.
  • (9) Although angry when talking about the regime, his campaign grew from selfish motives.
  • (10) After The Arbor's success, said Barnard, the women who would become The Selfish Giant's executive producers, Lizzie Francke at the BFI and Katherine Butler from Film4, "were fantastic about saying, 'What do you want to do next?
  • (11) None of them is British, though there is great anticipation about The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard's second feature, which premieres in the Directors' Fortnight .
  • (12) Further, it is selfish to suggest that Americans should feel some sort of responsibility for their fellow citizens.
  • (13) In an ideal world, such findings might be interpreted as smart women making smart choices, but instead it seems that this research is just adding fuel to the argument that women who don't have children, regardless of the reason, are not just selfish losers but dumb ones as well.
  • (14) Denial is absurdly selfish (and yet the best selfishness is yet to come).
  • (15) Jeremy Clarkson faced further censure on Saturday after describing people who killed themselves by jumping under trains as "selfish".
  • (16) A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations.
  • (17) In fact, Wilson's arguments are more fundamental and persuasive than Snow's; works on evolution, like Sociobiology and Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, have been absorbed into western cultural life as neatly as any neo-Darwinist could have predicted.
  • (18) Sometimes the athletes are so selfish they won't give up their own stuff to help others."
  • (19) Her newspaper profiles over the years are peppered with self-deprecating references to her sporting ruthlessness: her constant mentions of her selfishness and egotism; her win-at-all-costs, only-gold-medals-matter mentality; or the time she flung her helmet at her boyfriend in frustration after losing a race.
  • (20) This has been encouraged by the press' standard strike narrative: these selfish bastards are striking, this is bad, and it will affect you in this awful unacceptable way of maybe making you slightly late for work.