A Healthy Dose of Selfishness (Essay Sample)

A Healthy Dose of Selfishness
Student Name
University
Course
Professor Name
Date
A Healthy Dose of Selfishness
Humans tend to conform or reject societal dictates of morality. Fundamentally, society considers selfishness (in all its forms) a negative construct. It considers individuals who sacrifice personal values to satisfy those of others as selfless and those who prioritize personal needs and values as selfish and therefore immoral. However, such moral reasoning fails to recognize that what appears as selfish behavior might be a high degree of self-awareness. Due to a high degree of self-awareness, a healthy dose of selfishness promotes positive pro-social traits, helps avoid excessive dominance over others, and builds immunity to vulnerable narcissistic behaviors, which all positively influence our lives.
A healthy dose of selfishness promotes positive pro-social traits such as empathy. Psychologically, experts suggest that self-awareness and empathy correlate and form the foundation of understanding others. Individuals who exercise healthy selfishness have a high degree of self-awareness because they have enough time to think and understand their feelings and actions, which translates to meaningful action (Gloster et al., 2020). For example, a politician with a healthy dose of selfishness will have enough time to think and understand how specific problems affect his people and act accordingly. In that case, a healthy dose of selfishness is the only gateway to understanding and sharing other people’s feelings.
Healthy selfishness is devoid of excessive dominance over others. According to Kaufman & Jauk (2020), dominant individuals score highly on the 'dark triad" traits, including Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. However, due to high levels of self-awareness, individuals with a healthy dose of selfishness will understand things from multiple perspectives, communicate with clarity and attention, and remain free from biases and assumptions (Gloster et al., 2020). In other words, due to a strong focus on the self, people who embrace healthy selfishness can interpret their feelings and think objectively. Such individuals will often look for the best way to solve a problem rather than showing excessive dominance over others. Therefore, individuals with an overbearing attitude can change their life by exercising healthy selfishness.
Individuals who exercise healthy selfishness are immune to vulnerable narcissistic behaviors. Usually, vulnerable narcissists are hypersensitive, easily angered, and have difficulties dealing with failure. Such individuals also have low self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-worth, with their worth depending on external perception (Rohmann et al., 2019). Contrastively, due to high levels of self-awareness, individuals with a healthy dose of selfishness are confident in their abilities, making them less likely to judge themselves based on people's opinions or perceptions. Individuals who embrace healthy selfishness develop authentic self-esteem independent from external judgment and criticisms. Therefore, avoiding maladaptive behaviors where external factors determine persona