The ‘age of selfishness’ is making us sick, single, and miserable. It’s because our brains are hardwired for both self-interest and altruism

Why is it that people seem to act so selfish these days? Self-centeredness has been studied for centuries by philosophers, psychologists, and everyday observers of human behavior, with times of crisis known to predispose us to increased selfish actions. And we’ve experienced a period of “permacrisis” in recent years.

In the case of COVID-19, it might have even changed people’s personalities as younger adults became more prone to stress, distrust, and even neuroticism with declined agreeableness. This is thought to be due to personality being more malleable in younger age groups and amid changes to the normative tasks of adulthood; for example, transitioning to the workplace and relationship development. And if these changes are enduring in nature, it suggests that population-wide stressful events have the ability to bend the trajectory of personality and behavior for an entire generation.

Yet research shows we are wired for altruistic behavior and get significant gains from it. There is a healthy tension between selfishness and prosocial behavior (i.e. having a tendency toward generous behavior) that is crucial to understanding today’s social interactions, and conflict in general.

Indeed, people are hardwired for both self-interest and altruism. While a fight-or-flight innate response promotes looking out for oneself in life-saving circumstances, our success as humans depends on our evolved capacity to cooperate with others. This means that there are natural…