10 Ways You Can Blame Science For Your Horrible Personality
9. Youre Sometimes Plain Selfish
Completely selfish people are the worst, for sure, but you can't escape the fact that we're all a bit selfish. Egocentrism is an unavoidable side effect of only being able to experience the world from your own point of view. This means that you're naturally going to have a cognitive bias towards your own thoughts, opinions and views. What's more, assumed similarity bias means that you're likely to assume that other share your views, even with objective proof that they don't. For example, to you, it seems perfectly reasonable that you should take a bit of extra time in the bathroom in the morning - you need that time and you're warm and comfortable - whereas you're less likely to take that philosophical standpoint when your housemate is using up all the hot water and making you late for work. Selfishness is a trait that would be favoured by evolution. As it turns out, putting yourself first is a pretty good survival strategy and will make you much more likely to pass on your selfish genes to to your selfish babies. Heroes are great and all, but they're usually the ones that end up getting eaten by the lion. As social animals, cooperation does play a big role in our societies, but studies have shown that people are much more likely to be selfless when we know others will find out about it. So, even in our altruism, we still find ways to be selfish gits. On the plus side, some research has shown that a little bit of selfishness actually makes for better relationships, as you are less dependent on the other person for your happiness. So there's that.
