Selfishness is a relative term. This is due to the fact that individuals differ from each other widely in the matter of natural endowments. The standard of measure used in judging selfishness in people is both individual and social. Most frequently the charge of selfishness is lodged because an individual is not as unselfish as the group in which he most often appears, but in fairness he must also be judged with an eye to the intensity of his native egoistic impulses. From this point of view, what may be selfish in one person is not selfish in another. The misunderstanding of children in interpreting their apparent selfishness is very easy. The traditions of the home may have accentuated the natural propensity to care for their own interests beyond that which would have been the case had they had other surroundings. Furthermore, the known variation in natural endowments, and in the responses to social influences, require one to be lenient in passing judgment upon selfish people. [Sidenote: Its Nature] As commonly understood, the selfish individual is one who exhibits an excessive concern for his own welfare, who tends to regard himself as a little god, watching every opportunity to satisfy his desires, tastes, impulses and pleasures. He measures every passing circumstance in terms of its value to him. Even the occasional acts of kindness which he renders to another are planned so as to bring him the largest returns financially or socially. We must not forget that selfishness is an indestructible instinct of human nature. On this instinct is deeply engraved the law of self-preservation. Experience in associating with ones’ fellows shows to an ordinary person how far he must take precautions in order to maintain his own welfare, but in the case of a few, as we believe, results of experience have not given the wisdom which renders them unselfish. We are never to forget that the will to live underlies and overtops all other interests and desires in the life of the individual. No sane method will attempt to suppress this impulse, for out of it spring all the impulses that induce the individual to seek his fortune and win success in life. [Sidenote: Causes] For the better understanding of selfishness in children, it is well to survey some of the general causes that operate in prolonging selfishness into later childhood and adult life. First of all, we mention misconception of one’s actual need. By this we mean that a child overestimates his need for some object that interests him. He “wants” it very much, as we say. He is unable, by reason of his immaturity, to estimate accurately his own necessities in the case. Another specific cause of selfishness is a wrong estimate of the value which belongs to the object of his eager desire. For these reasons he is willing to pay too high a price to satisfy himself with that which, if he were better informed, he could forego with little discomfort.