Human behavior is based on two basic instincts inherent in it genetically. This is the survival instinct and the reproduction instinct.
Whatever a person does in his life, all his actions, feelings, emotions are based on these two instincts that help him survive and continue his kind, that is, serve his personal interests, his “ego”. A person’s selfishness is the fundamental motive of his behavior.
In this case, the question arises: why does such a phenomenon as friendship exist in human society? Why should a person be friends with someone, give some benefits to another person, make concessions, make sacrifices if all this contradicts the personal interests of a person?
However, if you think about it, friendship serves the interests of the person himself and helps him to satisfy his ego.
Friendship originally arose as an association of individuals to achieve common goals. It is obvious that the origins of this phenomenon originated thousands of years ago from our ancestors, who were already social animals, that is, who lived collectively. Even then, the ancestors of people needed to get food together on hunting, defend themselves together from other tribes, and so on. It was impossible for a single person to survive in such conditions, so our ancestors united into tribes. Unification meant connections between individuals, that is, mutual concessions and sacrifices. For example, someone wanted to go hunting, and someone wanted to rest. In this case, someone had to sacrifice their own personal interests and submit to the interests of others. And the individual made this sacrifice, because she understood that these concessions were mutual. Today he conceded, and tomorrow they will concede to him. As a result of the interaction, everyone received more benefits than living alone. It was easier to catch game together than alone. It was easier to defeat the enemies together than alone.
Over the millennia, this model of behavior has been perfected and honed, being fixed at the genetic level.
And today, in human society, we have an established model of behavior called friendship, when a person in one case concedes to a friend in something, for example, goes to the cinema with him, although he does not really want to. But he makes this sacrifice because he knows that next time his friend will give in to him and go camping with him. Going to the cinema, a person benefits a friend by entertaining him there, and going on a hike, a friend entertains a person by helping him to assemble a tent. If at the same time friends are interested in communicating, and they both enjoy communication, then such a friendship will last a long time. Although, it would seem, friendship is based on the selfishness of each of the friends.
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