Definition of "self-interest" []

• Selfish or excessive regard for one's personal advantage or interest. (noun)
• Personal advantage or interest. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That is, the world is transforming in ways that require shifting away from the short-term self-interest that's defined our way of life."
• "Others, like David Brooks in The New York Times, contend that cooperation is more evolutionary than episodic, intertwined with competition: "We have an incentive to work in teams, even against our short-term self-interest because cohesive groups thrive.""
• "In order to justify the appropriateness of more integration, we may have to persuade ourselves of the degeneracy of aggregative institutions and the glories of rights, reasoned debate, and administrative autonomy, while at the same time recognizing that within a few decades we will rediscover the evils of integration and will once again embrace exchange in the name of self-interest."