People can hold sincere intentions and still respond to pressures that pull them in another direction. Someone may value thoughtful work while operating in a setting that rewards speed. A group may praise honesty while making disagreement uncomfortable. Looking at incentives helps explain the tension.
That does not mean every choice is calculated or selfish. Motives are often mixed. Care, habit, fear, loyalty, and convenience can all exist in the same decision. Treating one incentive as a complete explanation is simply another way to overlook context.
A useful starting point is to ask what a choice makes easier, what it makes costly, and what alternatives are realistically available. These questions apply to your own behavior, too. If you keep making a choice you say you dislike, examine the immediate reward it offers before blaming your character.
Understanding incentives should make judgment more precise and less cynical. Sometimes the better response is to change the conditions around a behavior: make the useful action easier, make the tradeoffs visible, or agree on expectations. Explanation is a tool for improvement, not a license to assume the worst.
A reflection to examine, not a rule for every situation.
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