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

Essay topics:

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, behaviors 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?

Que: Summarize the points made in the lecture you just heard, being sure to specifically explain how they cast doubt on points made in the reading.

Writing:

The lecture contradicts the passage discussing altruism. In the lecture, a careful study of meerkats has been discussed. According to the study, meerkats stand guard after having food, unlike mentioned in the passage.

Another observation that was made was that the meerkat sentinel is the first one to escape since it is the first one to see the predator. Also, the burrow is nearby so it doesn't have to cover a long distance alone. This is again in contradiction with the passage's declaration.

Furthermore, the study found that the predator is likely to attack in a direction away from the cry of the sentinel so the statement in the passage that the sentinel is at a greater risk is incorrect. The probability of the predator assailing the group of meerkats foraging for food is higher.

The lecture also covered altruism in case of human beings. An example of donation of kidney has been considered. This example explains that it would not be correct to assert that the donor is an altruist and is not gaining anything out of the unselfish act he performs because he would receive appreciation from the society and experience the feeing of self-worth. So, in a way he receives something non-material in exchange for a materialistic object. This is another place where the lecture is in opposition to the passage.

To conclude, it can be said that the altruist also receives something, latent or patent, in exchange for his good deed.

The lecture and reading are both about altruism. The author of the reading feels that Altruistic acts gain nothing; the lecturer challenges the claim made by the author. He is of the opinion that altruistic acts gain a reputation in society. The lecturer cast doubt on the main points made in the reading by providing three reasons.

To begin with, the author argues that sharing the food or donating the body organ part to family members or even strangers is an example of altruism. Nevertheless, this argument is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that a donor gets appreciation from society by donating the body organ to either family members or strangers; furthermore, for some humans, the non-valuable reward is more important than monetary compensation.

Secondly, the reading states that many species of animals sacrifice their food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group. He feels that in the group of the meerkat, which is a mammal, an individual meerkat acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. Howbeit, the lecturer, refutes the claim by mentioning that if we check the behavior of a meerkat, the one meerkat who is standing as a guard, eat food before the others.

Finally, the author posits that if sentinel meerkat sees a predator, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run. Nonetheless, the reading believes sentinel meerkat flee alone in case of a hawk approaching the group.

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Average: 7 (1 vote)
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Comments

Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, furthermore, if, look, nevertheless, nonetheless, second, secondly, so, while, to begin with

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 7.0 10.4613686534 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 0.0 5.04856512141 0% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 18.0 22.412803532 80% => OK
Preposition: 28.0 30.3222958057 92% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 5.01324503311 80% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1283.0 1373.03311258 93% => OK
No of words: 256.0 270.72406181 95% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.01171875 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.0 4.04702891845 99% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.66727663058 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 142.0 145.348785872 98% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.5546875 0.540411800872 103% => OK
syllable_count: 382.5 419.366225166 91% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 3.25607064018 154% => OK
Article: 12.0 8.23620309051 146% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 12.0 13.0662251656 92% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 53.3402990243 49.2860985944 108% => OK
Chars per sentence: 106.916666667 110.228320801 97% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.3333333333 21.698381199 98% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.41666666667 7.06452816374 119% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.178647041346 0.272083759551 66% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0610838544608 0.0996497079465 61% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0493947702729 0.0662205650399 75% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0897970373126 0.162205337803 55% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.038609689787 0.0443174109184 87% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.8 13.3589403974 96% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 53.8541721854 109% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.78 12.2367328918 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.63 8.42419426049 102% => OK
difficult_words: 64.0 63.6247240618 101% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 6.5 10.7273730684 61% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 70.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 21.0 Out of 30
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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.