ABSTRACT
People are inherently self-serving. The extent to which people will go to achieve their personal objective often depends on their character, which is formed at an early age. From birth, a child has natural self-preservation instincts and inherently selfish behavior. A baby has an instinct to cry until it is fed and comforted by being held and fed. When denied this comfort for a brief time, babies obtain attention by crying. Later, in elementary school, children grab toys from one another saying, “Mine, mine, mine,” while the teacher is saying, “Share, share, share.” Children often lie to avoid punishment or to obtain something they feel would not be available to them otherwise. The degree to which children behave in this way varies and depends on what they have learned from and been trained to do by their family and other social contacts.
