Altruism, just like our morals, is learned from a very young age.  There is no evolutionary necessity for innate altruism, although its polar opposite, egoism, does confer distinct evolutionary advantages. Altruism deals with unconsciously being concerned with the welfare of others. In terms of evolution and natural selection, this would definitely work against an individual. The innately altruistic individual would spread his resources thin, trying to help provide for the welfare of the more unfortunate individuals that didn’t have the tools to succeed. In this fashion, the innately altruistic individual(s) would eventually succumb to the fate of less fortunate, i.e. die.  As the base of individuals that needed others welfare to survive on grew, the resources would become so thin that the providing individuals would not be able to provide for themselves.

This is where the idea of egoism comes into play. Egoism has its roots in evolution, as the selfish individual would allocate more than enough resources for himself to survive, just in case of a catastrophe. In this case, egoism is the sense of survival. The individual says ‘I want to live, I want to continue my life.’  Claiming the possibility of altruism to be innate, no individual would be able to carry out this action because he would have an overbearing desire to help others, even if it meant his own downfall.

Recently, researchers published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that stated they had found a way to turn off a persons morals by aiming magnets at the portion of the brain responsible for moral judgments. When the magnets were used, the subjects often agreed with instances where the ends justified the means. If there was a positive outcome, the course taken to get that outcome was irrelevant. Under normal, non magnetic induced circumstances, these individuals would not agree that the ends justified the means, but took a look at the whole picture. If morals are able to be turned off with simple magnets, it is plausible to say morals can also be turned off just by the force of will. Thus, learned altruism can be turned off by an individual actively willing it to be gone, or in can be passively turned off by the brain in an attempt to survive.

Many behaviors can be learned and unlearned, and altruism is just that, a behavior. Egoism however, is programmed into the very workings of living beings. The being wants to continue life and pursue the future. At times, altruism can hinder this desire and is therefore thrown to the side either passively or willingly.

Sources:

UK Telgraph