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[RaymondPrep101]

Prompt 25 DaKirbster

 

Human behaviour is a subject that has been thoroughly studied because it offers explanations to why we do the things we do. In evolutionary terms, an individual of any species behaves in a way that best serves itself. Generally, this maximizes its potential to live as long as possible. It follows then that the behaviour of the species Homo Sapiens, ie. humans, is guided primarily by self-interest. This is an overtly simplistic argument in the way that it is described here. For example, scam artists are common across the world. These people will do anything in order to make quick money at the expense of another human. They will lie, trick, cheat, deceive, and gain the trust of others for their own benefit without batting an eye at the tremendous loss and grief that they often cause the people that they scam. The scammers benefit by quikly acquiring what the victim has likely worked long and hard to earn.

This example works but is too general.

However, there are cases in which human behavior is not guided by self-interest, but is instead focussed on benefitting others. For example, many men and women of the United States of America have volunteered to go to wars to fight for the liberty of their country. This behaviour is clearly not done out of self-interest, as the many grammar soldiers die in combat. Rather, this behaviour can be linked to the desire to defend the things that the soldiers hold dearly grammar ; their family and loved ones, friends, and their country. Indeed, the soldiers selflessly risk and sacrifice their lives in order to protect others. This is okay. Again, this is too general and needs more depth.

 

Human behaviour is most often guided by self-interest, however humans will make sacrifices when it protects their loved ones. This is not a balanced resolution principle. Furthermore, it is within one's self-interest to protect loved ones so it is not completely selfless. This also only applies to one of your examples well. In the first example, scam artists behave out of self-interest alone by tricking people into giving them money with no thought to the interest of others. What about if they are scamming people in order to provide for their loved ones? In the case of war, many soldiers volunteer to go for the sake of their loved ones despite the likelihood that they will not return. This makes sense in evolutionary terms as well; an individual, in addition to surviving as well as it can, is compelled to protect its genetic offspring as a continuation of the family tree. This undermines your argument that the act is selfless. Ultimately, it all comes down to the old age homage: family comes first.

 

Overall Mark: 2.5/6 (Corresponds to approximately a M )

Breakdown (out of 6):

Addresses tasks: 2.5 Supporting task is somewhat addressed. Refuting task is somewhat addressed. Resolution task is weakly addressed.

Depth: 2.5

Focus and coherence: 3

Grammar and vocabulary: 4

[RaymondPrep101]

Prompt 25 medhopeful64

 

Human behaviour can be a difficult thing to understand. Often, there are many things that guide human behaviour. One of them is self-interest. Take physicians for example. Their job is to essentially save lives but this behaviour is guided primarily by self interest. It is their job, and they are paid in six figure incomes for it. The money earned by this generous paycheck can be spent on material goods and various other luxuries. Thus, it can be argued that human behaviour is guided primarily by self interest. The language and sentence structure is too simplistic. The argument can be made but the execution here needs a lot of improvement.

 

On the other hand, saving lives does not always come with generous paycheck. Often times, people do incredibly self-less things, and in such cases, human behaviour is not guided primarily by self interest. For example, a man named Todd Irvine stumbled upon Christopher Husbands one night, who lay bleeding in the streets. Irvine pulled over, and called 911. He waited for ambulance grammar to arrive, and attempted to console the dying man. As quoted by Irvine himself, he "just wanted him to live." In this case, there was no direct, monetary reward for saving a life. You don't explain that he survived. Irvine had non-selfish reasons for helping Husbands. Why? Thus, it is clear here that human behaviour is not necessarily always guided by self interest.

This example could work well but the writing style needs improvement.

 

One of the main factors that governs human behaviour is self interest. The factor that determines when human behaviour is guided primarily by self interest and when it is not depends on if there is a direct, material reward involved for a certain behaviour. If there is a direct, material reward involved, then human behaviour is guided (primarily) by self interest. This can be seen in a career as a physician. A physician's behaviour is guided primarily by self interest because they are directly paid for their services. The money is a motivating factor for their behaviour. If, however, the behaviour does not involve a direct material reward, then human behaviour is not guided by self interest. Todd Irvine went out of his way to aid a dying man even though he would receive no monetary or direct reward for this heroic act. Thus, it is clear that human behaviour is guided primarily by self interest when a reward is offered (or may be offered), but is not guided by self interest when no reward is offered.

You need to think more about your argument. With respect to your refuting example, there was no monetary reward and the act can therefore be considered not guided by self-interest. However, the lack of monetary reward was not the motivating factor that caused Mr. Irvine to act in a selfless way. That makes no sense. With your supporting example, you also don't make an argument of causality. Furthermore, I think that a lot of people here would be offended by the argument. Just because doctors are well compensated does not mean they are primarily motivated by self-interest.

 

Overall Mark: 1.5/6 (Corresponds to approximately a K )

Breakdown (out of 6):

Addresses tasks: 1.5 Supporting task is poorly addressed. Refuting task is somewhat addressed. Resolution task is poorly addressed.

Depth: 1.5

Focus and coherence: 3

Grammar and vocabulary: 4

[RaymondPrep101]

Prompt 25 Neuro_07

 

As the evolutionary theory suggests, every living organism acts in a way to promote its own survival over others. Similarly, the human behaviour grammar is motivated by the purpose of serving selfish goals. In modern society, people act to fulfill their own interests even when the outcome of the act might not guarantee enhanced chances of survival. The Time Magazine listed India’s ‘2G Scam’ at the second position in its list of ‘Top 10 Abuses of Power’. India’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology, A. Raja, corruptly allocated the telecommunication bandwidths to the telecommunication companies at prices that were significantly lower than their market value. He was bribed 400 million dollars grammar by the owners of telecom companies to sell them the 2G frequencies at lower rates. Due to this scam, the Indian Government suffered a loss of close to 40 billion dollars. Raja’s lust for money made him oblivious to his duty to the party that appointed him and to the citizens of the country who voted for him. His decision to indulge in corrupt activity aptly demonstrates that human behaviour is primarily driven by self-interest.

Excellent.

 

However, it is important to note that humans are not always motivated by selfishness. History holds numerous examples of people spending their lives in serving others. Gandhi and Nelson Mandela did not fight for their country’s freedom to fulfill their own interests. In fact, they put their own lives in jeopardy to free their nation from the oppressive rule of the British. They were motivated by the desire to attain basic human rights for the people of their country. Their altruistic behaviour exemplifies that, in some circumstances, human behaviour is guided by others’ interests, rather than personal benefits.

Either Gandhi or Nelson Mandela would have made an excellent example here. However, you need to choose one. Having both here made you describe their lives in very general terms which decreases depth. The discussion could have been excellent but was weakly executed here.

Thus, whether or not human behaviour is guided by self-interest depends on whether the person in question is in power or not in power. Excellent principle. When a person is in power, he/she is most likely to use the power for personal benefits, rather than the benefit of the society. A. Raja used his power as the Telecom Minister for personal monetary gain and, at the same time, caused the government to lose billions of dollars along with their credibility among the citizens of the country. Excellent. On the other hand, the behaviour of people who are not in power or, more specifically, who face the tyranny of those in power, is not motivated by personal interest, but by the interest of other people. Historical figures like Gandhi and Mandela had led their countries to independence by selflessly devoting themselves to the purpose of freeing their countrymen from the oppression of the British rule. In conclusion, whether a person behaves selfishly or altruistically depends on the situation the person is in.

Excellent.

 

Overall Mark: 5/6 (Corresponds to approximately a R)

Breakdown (out of 6):

Addresses tasks: 5 Supporting task is completely addressed. Refuting task is somewhat addressed. Resolution task is completely addressed.

Depth: 4.5

Focus and coherence: 4.5

Grammar and vocabulary: 4.5

[RaymondPrep101]

It seems that a lot of people, including myself, are having difficulty in coming up with and executing good resolution principles. Can you (Raymond) or anyone else suggest some general principles that are good to use across various prompts?

Thanks!

 

There are a number of characteristics of a good resolution principle. One of the strongest kinds of resolution principles are dichotomies.

 

Some examples of dichotomies are:

War vs. Peace

Democracy vs. Dictatorship

 

There are various resources out there that can help in recognizing what makes a strong resolution principle. Some resources also provide other strong resolution principles but cannot be reproduced here. The discussion of such resources and principles is beyond the scope of this thread.