Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.
Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet provide little reward to the one performing the act.In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group.
The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard,the sentinel meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave danger. After it issues an alarm, it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator, since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
Listening Script:
You know, often in science, new findings force us to re-examine earlier beliefs and assumptions.
And a recent study of meerkats is having exactly this effect. The study examined the meerkat’s behavior quite closely, much more closely than had ever been done before. And some interesting things were found . . . like about eating habits . . . it showed that typically meerkats eat before they stand guard—so the ones standing guard had a full stomach! And the study also found that since the sentinel is the first to see a predator coming, it’s the most likely to escape . . . because it often stands guard near a burrow, so it can run immediately into the burrow after giving the alarm.
The other meerkats, the ones scattered about looking for food, are actually in greater danger. And in fact, other studies have suggested that when an animal creates an alarm,the alarm call might cause the other group members either to gather together or else to move about very quickly, behaviours that might actually draw the predator’s attention away from the caller, increasing that animal’s own chances of survival.
And what about people—what about some human acts that might be considered altruistic? Let’s take an extreme case, uh, suppose a person donates a kidney to a relative, or even to a complete stranger. A selfless act, right? But . . . doesn’t the donor receive appreciation and approval from the stranger and from society? Doesn’t the donor gain an increased sense of self-worth? Couldn’t such non-material rewards be considered very valuable to some people?
The article states that altruism is a selfless act and individuals who perform altruistic acts do not gain anything for themselves. The author illustrates this with an example of the meerkat, which appear willing to sacrifice food and life for the other members of their group. However, the professor explains that even altruistic acts can sometimes be selfish and refutes each of the author's points.
First of all, the professor says that a close study of the meerkat behaviour showed that the sentinel meerkat usually eats before it stands guard to the other meerkat. So, the sentinel meerkat would have a full stomach and not starve in order to guard the other meerkat when they are searching for food. This directly refutes the reading passage which claims that the sentinel meerkat goes without food while the others eat.
Secondly, the professor explains that the sentinel meerkat can run immediately into the burrow wehn it sees the predator coming as it is the first to notice it. So, the professor says that the sentinel meerkat has an advantage over the other meerkat and can save itself from the predator. Again, this contradicts what is stated in the reading passage that the sentinel meerkat places itself in great danger.
Third, the professor says that the alarm cry given by the sentinel meerkat would cause the others to move away from the caller. Hence, it is not targetted by the predator. This point refutes the reading passage, which states that the sentinel meerkat has to flee alone, which might be more dangerous for it.
In summary, the professor says that acts which might sound altruistic are not selfless after all. She supports her claim with an example that humans who donate their kidney to a relative or a stranger receive approval and appreciation from others. This increased sense of self worth may be valuable to some.
Discourse Markers used:
['first', 'hence', 'however', 'if', 'may', 'second', 'secondly', 'so', 'third', 'while', 'after all', 'as to', 'in summary', 'first of all']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.244117647059 0.261695866417 93% => OK
Verbs: 0.164705882353 0.158904122519 104% => OK
Adjectives: 0.0588235294118 0.0723426182421 81% => OK
Adverbs: 0.05 0.0435111971325 115% => OK
Pronouns: 0.0411764705882 0.0277247811725 149% => OK
Prepositions: 0.114705882353 0.128828473217 89% => OK
Participles: 0.0147058823529 0.0370669169778 40% => Some participles wanted.
Conjunctions: 2.33974904287 2.5805825403 91% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0235294117647 0.0208969081088 113% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.00154638098197 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.15 0.128158765124 117% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0235294117647 0.0158828679856 148% => OK
WH_determiners: 0.0294117647059 0.0114777025283 256% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 1864.0 1645.83664459 113% => OK
No of words: 313.0 271.125827815 115% => OK
Chars per words: 5.9552715655 6.08160592843 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.20616286096 4.04852973271 104% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.361022364217 0.374372842146 96% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.277955271565 0.287516216867 97% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.166134185304 0.187439937562 89% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.0830670926518 0.113142543107 73% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.33974904287 2.5805825403 91% => OK
Unique words: 159.0 145.348785872 109% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.507987220447 0.539623497131 94% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
Word variations: 51.5705329122 53.8517498576 96% => OK
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0529801325 115% => OK
Sentence length: 20.8666666667 21.7502111507 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 32.5817945076 49.3711431718 66% => OK
Chars per sentence: 124.266666667 132.220823453 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.8666666667 21.7502111507 96% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.933333333333 0.878197800319 106% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 3.39072847682 0% => OK
Readability: 48.6621938232 50.5018328374 96% => OK
Elegance: 1.45977011494 1.90840788429 76% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.234390070809 0.549887131256 43% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.148288347449 0.142949733639 104% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0762969459287 0.0787303798458 97% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.644982371087 0.631733273073 102% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.131308433299 0.139662658121 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.11134057126 0.266732575781 42% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0621707856286 0.103435571967 60% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.488558118367 0.414875509568 118% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.175000621283 0.0530846634433 330% => No any connections among paragraphs
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.17006336977 0.40443939384 42% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0930697391186 0.0528353158467 176% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.26048565121 141% => OK
Positive topic words: 4.0 3.49668874172 114% => OK
Negative topic words: 5.0 3.62251655629 138% => OK
Neutral topic words: 4.0 3.1766004415 126% => OK
Total topic words: 13.0 10.2958057395 126% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
---------------------
Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: This is not the final score. The e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.