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.
Altruism, according to the text, is a behavior exhibited by humans, animals in which they sacrifice their own interests in order to benefit another individual, or their group. The lecture contrasts the points mentioned in the text by providing examples and data of a study about meerkats. It has been explained in detail in the next paragraphs.
The lecture mentions altruism in humans by giving an example of donation of an organ by an individual. For example, a person donates kidney to a relative or a stranger is an act of altruism, as the person who donates does not gain any advantage, and considered as an unselfish act. The lecture in contrast, puts forth the point that the donor gains appreciation from the person who he donates the organ to, and also from the society. Additionally, he, himself has a sense of self-worth which some people consider as a measure of success. Hence, the lecture casts doubt on the intentions of the donor, as he might be thinking of personal gain.
Similar was the observation from a recent study of meerkats. According to recent study of the eating habits of meerkats, it has been discovered that the standing guard eats before going on the guarding duty, and the other meerkats go on in search of food, when the standing guard guards the territory. Generally, the sentinel guards close to the burrow, and if he sees a predator, he gives an alarm to other meerkats, and runs in the burrow. This is a contrasting idea for altruism, as the sentinel does not risk his own life, and is safe after giving out the alarm.
When the sentinel gives the alarm, the meerkats searching for food can either gather together or start running. If they gather together, there are chances the predator shifts his focus to the group rather than the individual guard meerkat. Again, this idea provided in the lecture contrasts the basic idea of altruism. It clearly is the opposite of altruism, as the sentinel is putting in hazard the life of all the other meerkats in their troop, and being safe himself.
As we can see from the examples and studies mentioned above, previously, even if the non-profitable acts of humans or for instance, meerkats was considered as altruism, recent studies have shown that animals and humans do benefit from these kinds of behavior. The lecture, hence, has cast doubt on the content in the article and mentioned reasons for the opposition.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, hence, if, so, for example, for instance, in contrast
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 10.4613686534 124% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 7.30242825607 205% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 9.0 12.0772626932 75% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 23.0 22.412803532 103% => OK
Preposition: 59.0 30.3222958057 195% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2004.0 1373.03311258 146% => OK
No of words: 413.0 270.72406181 153% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.85230024213 5.08290768461 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.50803742585 4.04702891845 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.62945968601 2.5805825403 102% => OK
Unique words: 205.0 145.348785872 141% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.496368038741 0.540411800872 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 609.3 419.366225166 145% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 3.25607064018 215% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 9.0 1.25165562914 719% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 8.0 1.51434878587 528% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 13.0662251656 138% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 21.2450331126 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 53.0664910196 49.2860985944 108% => OK
Chars per sentence: 111.333333333 110.228320801 101% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.9444444444 21.698381199 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.27777777778 7.06452816374 46% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 4.33554083885 208% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.258364178166 0.272083759551 95% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0757077918119 0.0996497079465 76% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0772670692455 0.0662205650399 117% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.144686368267 0.162205337803 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0500051839233 0.0443174109184 113% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 13.3589403974 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 53.8541721854 107% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.15 12.2367328918 91% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.36 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 95.0 63.6247240618 149% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 10.7273730684 98% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 10.498013245 103% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: 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.