You tell yourself that you’re not selfish. You donate to charity, help friends in need, and try your best to be kind. But deep down, there are times when you put your own interests before others. What makes us selfish even when we don’t want to be? New research reveals some sobering truths about the psychological forces that drive selfish behavior. The capacity for selfishness lives within us all and is an inextricable part of human nature.
Yet selfishness is not inevitable. Understanding its root causes is the first step to overcoming selfish impulses and nurturing our innate generosity. This article explores the latest science on the triggers that unleash selfishness and how we can outsmart them.
Table of Contents
Defining Selfishness: What Is It and Why Do People Act This Way?
To understand selfishness, we must first define it. Selfishness refers to a pattern of behavior focused primarily on one’s own interests, desires, and needs without much regard for others. Those high in selfishness tend to put their own needs first and have difficulty seeing other perspectives.
Why do people act selfishly?
There are a few reasons why people may act in selfish ways:
- Evolutionary instincts: We are biologically wired to ensure our survival and success. This can sometimes drive us to prioritize our own needs over others.
- Lack of empathy: Those low in empathy have trouble understanding how others feel and seeing the world from different perspectives. This makes it more difficult to consider other people’s needs.
- Insecurity: People who feel insecure about themselves or their relationships may act selfishly as a way to get their needs met or protect themselves. Their self-interest is a way to compensate for their insecurities.
- Habit: Selfish behaviors can become habitual and automatic over time. People may not even realize how their actions impact others as they are stuck in their usual patterns of self-interest.
- Learned behavior: Some people may have learned selfish behaviors from influential role models and life experiences. They are modeling what they have been exposed to.
While selfishness is part of human nature, it is possible to cultivate more compassion and balance through conscious effort and awareness. Understanding the roots of selfish behavior is the first step. With insight and intention, we can overcome selfish tendencies and consider the greater good.
The Origins of Selfish Behavior in Childhood
As children, our earliest experiences shape how we view the world and interact with others. Unfortunately, selfish tendencies are often learned at a young age.
Lack of empathy development
Children need to develop empathy to understand how their actions affect others, but this doesn’t come naturally. Parents and caretakers must model empathy through their behavior and teach children empathy explicitly. Without these lessons, children fail to learn how to consider other people’s needs and emotions.
Conditional love and praise
Children who only receive affection, praise, or rewards when they behave in self-serving ways learn that selfishness is the path to love and approval. They don’t develop intrinsic motivation to care for others. Parents should express unconditional love while also praising kind and generous behaviors.
Lack of boundaries
Children need rules and boundaries to learn social skills and self-control. Permissive parenting without appropriate discipline allows selfish behaviors to flourish. While strict authoritarian styles can backfire, setting balanced limits helps children develop concern for others.
Sense of Entitlement
When children are overindulged and shielded from consequences, they develop an exaggerated sense of entitlement. They come to believe that their needs and desires are more important than those of others. Providing privileges and rewards based on good behavior and effort helps foster a balanced self-view.
With the right nurturing environment, empathy and selflessness can blossom. But when childhood development goes awry, selfish tendencies may emerge and persist into adulthood. Promoting empathy, enforcing boundaries, and cultivating an accurate sense of entitlement are keys to raising children who consider the needs of others.
The Role of Biology: Are Some People Just Born Selfish?
Are some people just born selfish? There is an argument that biology plays a role in selfish tendencies. Twin studies suggest that selfishness and related traits like greed and a lack of empathy are moderately heritable. Identical twins, who share nearly 100% of their genes, tend to be more similar in these traits than fraternal twins, who share only 50% of their genes.
However, biology is not destiny. Environment and experiences also significantly impact the development of selfishness. Negative early-life experiences like childhood abuse or neglect can damage the ability to form secure attachments and empathize with others, increasing selfishness. Harsh, authoritarian, or permissive parenting styles often fail to teach children skills like sharing, cooperation, and considering other people’s needs.
Societal Influences
The society and culture we live in can also promote selfish values and behaviors. Competitive, individualistic cultures that glorify materialism and status tend to breed more selfishness than collective cultures focused on community and relationships. Exposure to selfish models in media, business, and politics can also normalize selfish behavior and the “me first” mindset.
While some people may have a biological predisposition towards selfishness, environment, and experiences are also crucial in shaping selfish tendencies. With supportive relationships, modeling of prosocial values, and opportunities to build empathy and concern for others, selfish impulses can be overcome. In the end, selfishness is a complex human behavior that results from the interaction of nature and nurture. Our choices and actions—not just our genes—determine how much we contribute to the greater good.
Causes of Selfishness
Selfishness is the tendency to prioritize one’s own interests and needs over those of others. There are many possible causes of selfishness, such as:
1. Biological Causes: Genetics and Brain Chemistry
Your genetics and brain chemistry can influence how selfish you are. Twin studies show that selfishness is partly heritable, meaning it runs in families. Identical twins, who share very similar genes, tend to be more selfish than fraternal twins.
- The MAO-A gene, which produces a neurotransmitter that breaks down dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline in the brain, may be linked to selfishness. People with low-activity MAO-A genes tend to be more selfish and aggressive.
- Oxytocin, the “love hormone,” and vasopressin, a hormone linked to territoriality and aggression, also shape selfishness. People with certain variants of the oxytocin receptor gene tend to be less empathetic and cooperative. Those with different vasopressin receptor genes are often less generous.
- Abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain’s reward circuit can increase selfishness. Dopamine drives you to seek rewards and pleasure. Too much or too little dopamine activity is linked to selfish behavior, as you compulsively pursue rewards or lack motivation to consider others’ needs.
- Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which regulates emotions and social behavior, can reduce self-control and increase selfishness. Patients with damage here often make choices that benefit themselves without regard for others.
In summary, nature and nurture interact to determine your level of selfishness. While you can’t change your genetics, you can work to strengthen parts of your brain involved in empathy, compassion, and self-control through practices like meditation, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Understanding the biological roots of selfishness may help in designing interventions to build a kinder and more cooperative society.
2. Psychological Causes: Low Self-Esteem, Insecurity, and More
Low self-esteem and feelings of insecurity are two of the biggest psychological contributors to selfish behavior. When you have a poor self-image and lack confidence in yourself or your abilities, you may act in self-serving ways to compensate.
Low Self-Esteem
If you have low self-esteem, you likely do not value yourself and your own needs. You may be overly concerned with how others view you and rely too heavily on their approval and praise. This can drive you to be selfish in order to obtain validation and boost your fragile ego. You may exaggerate your accomplishments or make everything about you feel better about yourself in the short term.
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Insecurity
Feeling insecure in relationships or social situations can also increase selfish tendencies. If you feel anxious about your connections with others or worry excessively about being rejected, you may act selfishly without realizing it. For example, you may dominate conversations, interrupt others, or fail to listen to people to steer the focus back to yourself. You may also have trouble genuinely complimenting others or celebrating their wins due to jealousy and competitiveness fueled by your insecurities.
Overcoming selfishness caused by psychological factors requires building self-confidence from the inside out. Learn to value yourself for who you are, not what others think of you. Challenge negative self-talk and practice self-compassion. Focus on your inherent worth, strengths, and accomplishments to develop a healthy self-image independent of external validation. As your confidence grows, your selfish behaviors will subside, and you’ll find it easier to consider other people’s needs and be selfless when appropriate. With time and conscious effort, you can overcome selfish tendencies and become your best self.
3. Environmental Factors: How Your Upbringing Plays a Part
The environment you grew up in plays a significant role in shaping your tendencies towards selfishness. Your early experiences with caregivers and role models help determine how much you value the needs of others.
Harsh or neglectful upbringing
If you experienced a lack of affection, harsh punishment, or neglect as a child, you likely learned that your own needs were not a high priority for others. This can translate into selfish behavior as an adult, where you put your interests first out of a belief that no one else will.
Lack of modeling empathy
Children learn through observation and modeling. If you grew up without examples of empathy, compromise, and generosity, these traits may be underdeveloped in you. Seeing acts of kindness and compassion modeled by parents and mentors teaches children the importance of considering other people’s perspectives and well-being.
Spoiling and overindulgence
On the other hand, being excessively spoiled or indulged as a child can also lead to selfish tendencies. When children are rarely told “no” or given everything they want, they can develop an unrealistic sense of entitlement. They expect to get their way and may have trouble understanding why the needs and desires of others also matter.
The environment in which you were raised has a profound and lasting impact on your personality and behavior. Recognizing these early influences can help you gain awareness of the selfish tendencies you may exhibit, even if unintentionally. With conscious effort, it is possible to overcome these tendencies by practicing empathy, generosity, and compromise. But awareness is the first step. Looking at the role your upbringing played helps unmask the roots of selfishness and makes it easier to cultivate more selfless qualities.
4. The Selfish Brain: How Neuroscience Explains Self-Serving Behavior
Our brains have evolved self-serving mechanisms that often lead to selfish behavior. Here are a few ways our neurology promotes self-interest:
Cognitive Biases
Our thinking is prone to biases that favor us. For example, the “self-serving bias” leads us to attribute our successes to internal factors like hard work or skill but blame external factors for our failures. This bias allows us to protect our self-esteem.
The “spotlight effect” also makes us overestimate how much others notice and care about our actions. We assume others are focused on us when they are focused on themselves. This can promote selfish acts, as we believe we won’t get caught or judged.
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Reward-Seeking
Our brains are highly attuned to rewards, and we tend to seek out rewards that benefit us. The “reward prediction error” is a spike of dopamine that occurs when we receive an unexpected reward. This fuels selfish behavior as we try to re-experience that pleasurable burst of dopamine.
The ventral striatum, part of the brain’s reward circuit, is particularly active when we receive rewards that benefit us. This region lights up more for personal rewards than rewards that benefit others. Our neural reward system is fundamentally selfish, encouraging self-serving behavior.
Emotional Regulation
Our ability to regulate emotions depends on structures like the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Poor emotional regulation, like frequent negative emotions, anxiety, or difficulty managing anger, is linked to more selfish tendencies. When emotions are high, we are less able to consider the needs and perspectives of others. Our self-control weakens, and selfish impulses strengthen. Strong emotional regulation, on the other hand, promotes more prosocial behavior.
In many ways, our brains are wired to serve our own self-interests. But with awareness and conscious effort, we can overcome these tendencies and choose more generous and compassionate actions. Our selfish instincts may be automatic, but we have the power to rise above them.
5. Social and cultural influences Promoting selfish attitudes
Social and cultural influences play a significant role in promoting selfish attitudes and behaviors. Several factors contribute to the development and encouragement of selfishness in society:
Social Learning
We learn from observing others, especially as children. When we see selfishness modeled by parents, peers, and public figures, it becomes normalized. Children absorb these lessons and emulate them, continuing the cycle. The media also frequently depicts selfish acts without consequence, further reinforcing these attitudes.
Competitiveness
Modern society fosters an unhealthy competitiveness that breeds selfishness. When worth and success are defined by gaining power, wealth, and fame over others, people become more concerned for themselves. Cooperation and community are devalued in favor of ambition and status. This “me first” mindset erodes empathy and compassion.
Materialism
A materialistic culture that overvalues possessions, physical attractiveness, and lavish lifestyles cultivates selfishness. When happiness depends on accumulating more “stuff,” people become preoccupied with themselves and disregard others’ well-being. Generosity and gratitude are lost when you believe you never have enough.
Lack of accountability
Selfish acts often go unpunished, while selfless good deeds are rarely rewarded or recognized. This imbalance fails to motivate prosocial behavior or deter selfishness. People act in self-serving ways because they can get away with it and even benefit, facing few consequences for ignoring others’ needs and the greater good.
In summary, selfishness is a learned behavior that is influenced and spread through sociocultural factors present in everyday environments. By promoting more cooperation, community, and accountability while reducing unhealthy competitiveness and materialism, society can work to curb selfish attitudes and make selflessness more rewarding and the norm.
6. The Danger of Social Media: How Online Habits Can Make You Selfish
Social media has revolutionized how we communicate and share information, but it also fuels selfish tendencies. The curated posts on platforms like Instagram and Facebook often portray an idealized version of people’s lives, prompting envy and inadequacy in viewers. The anonymity of the online world also makes it easier to be rude without consequence.
Social comparison
When you see friends and influencers posting glamorous photos of exotic vacations, new homes, or successful careers, it’s easy to compare yourself and feel like you’re lacking in some way. This “fear of missing out” and the need to keep up with the Joneses can lead to selfish behaviors as you try to build a picture-perfect life to share on social media. Rather than being grateful for what you have, you become resentful over what you don’t.
Dehumanization effect
It’s more difficult to be empathetic towards people when interacting through a screen. Without face-to-face contact, you lose important social cues that foster compassion, like eye contact, facial expressions, and body language. This “dehumanization effect” makes selfish acts like trolling, bullying, and insensitive comments seem more acceptable since you don’t see the harm they cause. You become detached from the real people and emotions behind the accounts you’re interacting with.
Validation seeking
The likes, hearts, and retweets on social media trigger a dopamine rush in our brains that makes us feel good and crave more. This can turn into a selfish need for constant validation and approval from others at the expense of real relationships and self-worth. Rather than living according to your values and priorities, you make choices just to gain likes and comments.
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While social media has its benefits when used constructively, it also amplifies selfish tendencies that already exist within human nature. The key is using these platforms in moderation, connecting with others in meaningful ways, and not basing your self-esteem on what people share or say about you online. Stay grounded in the real world and maintain your humanity.
Strategies for Overcoming Selfish Tendencies
To overcome selfish tendencies, you need to make a conscious effort to develop self-awareness and empathy.
1. Recognize your own selfish thoughts and behaviors.
Notice when you’re being selfish and try to understand why. Often, it comes from a place of insecurity, greed, or a lack of compassion. Challenge any irrational thoughts that fuel your selfishness.
2. Practice empathy
Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Try to see the situation from their perspective and understand their feelings. Ask yourself how you would feel in their place.
Listen to others and be fully present. Pay attention to their body language and tone of voice. Try to understand their concerns and motivations.
Offer help and kindness whenever you can. Do small things to assist others in your life. Make a habit of complimenting and appreciating people.
Volunteer your time for a good cause. Helping others in need is a great way to foster empathy and overcome selfish tendencies.
3. Be aware of how your actions affect others.
Consider how your words and behaviors might impact those around you. Ask yourself questions like:
Will this inconvenience or hurt someone else?
Am I taking more than my fair share?
Are my wants more important than someone else’s needs?
If the answer is yes, rethink your actions. Consider compromising or finding an alternative solution that benefits everyone.
Overcoming selfishness is a challenging process that requires patience and practice. But by focusing on self-reflection, compassion for others, and considering how your actions affect those around you, you can make steady progress toward becoming less selfish and more considerate.
4. Learning Selflessness: How to Care More About Others
To overcome selfishness, you must make a conscious effort to consider the needs and feelings of others. This takes practice and commitment, but with time, you can strengthen your ability to empathize and become less self-centered.
1. Notice when you’re only thinking of yourself.
Catch yourself when you start worrying more about how something impacts you than others. Ask yourself how the other people involved may feel or what they may need. Make it a habit to consider other perspectives.
2. Practice active listening.
Pay close attention when others speak and reflect on what they’re saying to ensure you understand them fully. Try to see the issue from their point of view rather than just waiting for your turn to talk. Ask follow-up questions to make sure you grasp the other person’s position and concerns.
3. Offer to help others in need.
Helping people in your community is a great way to get outside of yourself and foster selflessness. Volunteer your time or skills for a good cause in your area. Make it a habit to perform random acts of kindness, no matter how small. Getting into the practice of serving others will make you appreciate how much we all depend on each other.
4. Be empathetic in your interactions.
Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and imagine what it’s like to be them in a given situation. Respond with empathy and compassion. Say things like, “I can understand why you feel that way.” Validate their feelings and experiences, even if they’re different from your own. With practice, empathy can become second nature.
5. Reflect on the ripple effects of your actions.
Take a few minutes each day to consider how your words and deeds impact those around you. Think about the consequences of your selfish and selfless acts, big and small. Let your awareness of how your behavior affects others motivate you to make more compassionate choices. With time and conscious effort, you can overcome selfish tendencies by learning to care more about others.
Seeking Help: When to Consider Therapy for Selfishness
When selfish behaviors start to negatively impact your life and relationships, it may be time to consider speaking with a therapist. Therapy can help you gain insight into the underlying causes of your selfishness and give you strategies to overcome it.
1. Recognizing the problem
The first step is acknowledging that your selfishness has become an issue. Are friends and family complaining that you seem self-centered or inconsiderate? Do you have trouble maintaining relationships? A therapist can help you gain awareness of how your selfishness manifests and affects others.
2. Exploring the roots
Selfishness is often rooted in deeper psychological issues like insecurity, anxiety, or a lack of empathy. The therapy utilizes techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy to uncover the source of these unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors. Addressing the root causes can help make overcoming selfishness feel less like swimming upstream.
3. Developing healthier strategies
Once you better understand the reasons behind your selfishness, a therapist will work with you to adopt alternative ways of thinking and behaving. Things like improving communication skills, setting boundaries, and considering other perspectives can help shift your mindset to one that is more generous and considerate. Putting these strategies into practice, both in therapy and in your daily life, is key.
4. Maintaining progress.
Overcoming selfishness is a journey, not a destination. A therapist can offer accountability and support to help you stay on track. Follow-up sessions allow you to discuss challenges, course-correct as needed, and build on your progress and insights. With ongoing effort and commitment to change, you can overcome selfishness and build healthier, mutually caring relationships.
Speaking with a therapist about selfishness may feel uncomfortable, but it can be profoundly helpful. A therapist’s guidance can help you unmask the reasons behind your selfishness and give you the tools to transform into your best, most considerate self. When you’re ready to make a change, seeking professional help is a wise first step.
Conclusion
So there you have it—the truth about what drives selfish behavior. At our core, we are social beings with an innate drive to connect and cooperate with others. Selfishness arises when our basic psychological needs are threatened or unmet, causing us to act in self-protective ways. Understanding the root causes of selfish actions is the first step to cultivating more compassion for ourselves and others.
When we recognize selfishness in ourselves or those around us, we can address the underlying needs and insecurities fueling that behavior. By nurturing our connections, embracing vulnerability, and fostering a sense of shared humanity, we stand the best chance of overcoming selfishness and bringing out the best in one another. Ultimately, we are all in this together.
References
- Natural selection makes some relatives selfish, others altruistic by University of Reading
- Why do we blame external factors for our own mistakes? Self-serving Bias – , explained. by The Decision Lab
- New studies link gene to selfish behavior in kids, find other children natural givers , February 26, 2013 by Susan Guibert and JP Shortall
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