I’m not entirely sure. A lot of my deal is wanting nothing to do with most people, regardless of whether I believe or not they’re only out for themselves, but this on my part has little to do with how cynical I might or might not be.
Personally, I believe that on a subconscious level, everything we do is ultimately for ourselves and our surrounding benefits, and that in the end we only listen to our survival instinct, physically as much as otherwise. Societal development, its values and moralities certainly have to be a part of our adaptation and evolution… I’m not entirely sure that at this point, I could call myself cynical though, since I think that a lot of the things we do serve some purpose other than the one we think it serves. This tends to lean me towards a slightly nihilistic nature rather than cynical.
That said, I have absolutely no doubt that many are selfish and heartless, although I wouldn’t doubt it if a lot of that is from self projection. Although so far in my life, I can’t seem to pinpoint any drastic change or significant degree shift in how I think regarding this issue. If there is or has been change, it probably happened much too gradually for me to really notice.