Comparative Analysis of Egoism or Altruism

The dating website has become an online phenomenon where people across the world find relationships, love and intimacy. The hottest trend in the online dating is that people who have been single for several years have finally found their true love. The theories of relationship, love, intimacy, social comparison, self-categorization, and social identity reveal that individuals develop a social relationship to boost their social esteem, and people are likely to cooperate with a group who belong to their social identity. Frisen, & Wangqvist, (2010) argue that people have been dating one another in Sweden without going through informal rules. The authors maintain that people continue to indulge in love relationship despite their social identity. Williams, & Russell (2013) argue that adolescent and younger adults quest for love, and increasing number of girls believe in intimacy relationship while boys adore sexual intercourse. Additionally, Finn, (2012) think that emotional attachment for love that happened in the 17th century is still happening in the present day. Since people across geographical locations may face challenges dating one another because of difference in distance, the dating websites have assisted people achieving the love relationship objectives.

Altruism is defined as an act of promoting other people's affairs even at a cost or risk to ourselves. In other words, altruism is the practice or principle that involves having concern for other peoples' welfare. However, altruism is the opposite of selfishness, which is the principle of concerning exclusively or excessively for oneself. Altruism is the voluntary and intentional actions aiming to enhance the welfare of others in the absence of external rewards. There has been a debate whether humans are capable demonstrating pure altruism since greediness and selfishness are common in the contemporary environment. Lichtenberg, (2010) argues that pure altruism is still possible among human. For example, a man called Wesley Autrey jumped onto a train track to save a man as the train was approaching. By pulling the man off the train track, this was an example of pure altruism since the man did not require a reward from this action.

Salter, (2008) on the other hand believes that human behaviors are based on genetic blueprints. While some people are genetically endowed to be selfish, the genetics of some humans are designed to help others. Although, environments and culture can partially alter behaviors of humans, nevertheless, pure altruism still exists among humans by providing sacrifices to others without requiring personal gains. However, Pawlicki, (2015) argues that pure altruism among humans is difficult to believe because many individuals display behaviors associated with self-centeredness.