PanamaTimes

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

What we do and don't know about kindness

What we do and don't know about kindness

In recent years, psychologists have gained a deeper understanding of human kindness and its benefits, but as Claudia Hammond writes, there's still so much to explore.

Since the pandemic began, people tell me they've been thinking a lot more about kindness. Maybe they've noticed the mutual aid groups that have sprung up around the world to help during lockdowns, or perhaps it's because the cessation of normal everyday life has forced them to reconsider their values and what really matters in life.

Kindness might once have been considered something of a soft topic, but it has begun to be taken seriously within academic research. When developmental psychologist Robin Banerjee – who is leading a new study on kindness in partnership with the BBC – surveyed past research, he found just 35 papers on kindness in psychology journals in the whole of the 1980s. In the past decade, there were more than 1,000.

But there is still plenty to discover, so the BBC has just launched a huge online public science project called the Kindness Test, in collaboration with a team from the University of Sussex in the UK. It's open now and many thousands of people from all over the globe have already completed it. The hope is that this research will start the process of obtaining a fuller picture of kindness in today's world.

Here's what some of those thousand research papers can already tell us, and what is still to be discovered:

WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW


Acting kindly makes us feel good

One morning, people walking down a street in the Canadian city of Vancouver were asked to take part in an experiment run by the American psychologist Elizabeth Dunn. They were given an envelope containing either a $5 or $20 note. Half the people were instructed to spend the money on themselves. The other half were instructed to use the money to buy a present for someone else or to donate the money to charity. In both cases, they had until 17:00 that day to spend the money.

That evening, the researchers spoke to all the participants. The first group said they'd bought a variety of things for themselves, such as sushi, earrings and coffee. People from the second group bought toys for their relatives, edible gifts or gave money to homeless people in the street. Then the researchers asked each participant to rate their mood.

Whether they had $5 or $20 made no difference, nor did what they bought. What mattered was who they spent their money on. The people who had spent it on someone else felt significantly happier than those who treated themselves.

This is just one of many studies which has found that acting kindly can improve your wellbeing. In a meta-analysis Oliver Scott Curry at the University of Oxford found that behaving kindly can have a small to medium effect on our wellbeing.

Neuroscientific research confirms that the warm glow we experience when we do something nice for someone shows up in our brain’s reward system.

Speaking to me on the BBC radio programme The Kindness Test, Sussex University neuroscientist Dan Campbell-Meiklejohn told me that this can seem counterintuitive. "Kindness can cost us, yet we experience a sense of reward in parts of our brain when we are kind to others, just as we do when eat yummy food or have a pleasant surprise. These parts of the brain become active and motivate us to do them again and again."

Kindness is contagious

Kind acts can have a ripple effect. Just hearing that someone else has behaved kindly can motivate us to do the same. In a now classic study of social norms by Robert Cialdini and his colleagues, when a notice in a hotel bathroom told people that the majority of guests choose to reuse their towels, the more likely they were to be kind to the planet and keep their towels instead of having them replaced with fresh ones.

Shoppers who bought something for others felt better afterwards compared with those who bought for themselves


Many different lab studies have found that people "pay it forward", if they receive kindness they are then kinder to others. For example in a study by Monica Bartlett back in 2006, people were asked to complete a dull task on a computer before it was "accidentally" unplugged. For some participants, a stooge would kindly sort out the problem for them, saving them from wasting time starting all over again. The other half of the participants were shown a funny film instead. Those on the receiving end of kindness were more likely to agree to help the experimenters by taking part in another study.

It should be noted that later research has shown that paying it forward isn't always positive. Greed, as well as kindness, can be paid forward to complete strangers too.

Acting kindly can make you feel less anxious

When students who experience social anxiety were asked to perform acts of kindness for four weeks, such as doing their roommate's washing up or donating to charity, their social anxiety and desire to avoid social situations was reduced, compared with a group who weren't asked to do the kind acts.

Jennifer Trew from Simon Fraser University, who conducted the study, believes acting kindly may have helped the students to have more positive expectations about social situations, instead of dreading them. It was notable that the biggest effect was at the start.

Even toddlers can be kind

Toddlers are of course famous for their tantrums. We tend to assume that at such a young age they can never understand another's perspective. They often appear unmoved if their sibling howls in distress, but experiments show that they are capable of kindness.

In one study, a researcher is hanging up washing, but then runs out of pegs. Meanwhile, it's been arranged that the toddler playing nearby opens a box, finding either another peg, a marble to use in their own game or a useless piece of plastic. Digital analysis of their body language showed that on the whole they were just as delighted to find the peg for the researcher as they were at finding the marble for themselves. Research with older children and teenagers has also found a capacity for kindness.

Young children often show signs of kindness, despite their age


WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW


So there is plenty that we already know about kindness from experiments conducted in the lab. These studies are sometimes small, but when put together a picture of the state of the kindness starts to emerge. Yet even some of those working in the field have argued that the whole idea of kindness still needs to be unpacked and that more research is needed on how individuals differ in their kindness, and how it impacts societies.

Our research project, the Kindness Test, looks at the place of kindness in everyday life. and these are among the many questions it addresses:

What are the most common kind acts that people carry out?

Is the most common act of kindness picking up something a stranger has dropped, giving money to charity, paying someone a compliment, or maybe something else? And who do we tend to be kindest to?

Neuroscientific research shows that our brains have a different emotional response to news stories of others coming to harm, depending on where in the world those people are. "It takes many more people abroad to have the same effect as a story about a single individual at home," says Dan Campbell-Meiklejohn. "So some charities and age groups have a massive challenge to overcome our emotional responses and to get support to those people that need it the most."

So how does this play out in everyday life? Are we kindest to friends and family, to people like us or to strangers?

Compassion is easier when people are close by


Where do people most often experience kindness?

In their homes? Out in the street in the city? In the countryside? Or maybe at work? A huge sample of people is needed in order to answer this kind of question.

How is kindness viewed at work?

In the cut-throat world of business, is there a place for kindness? Hopefully we've all worked with kind people, so we know kind acts do take place at work, and many of us wouldn't have survived in our jobs without colleagues showing us the ropes. But is kindness viewed as a strength at work and encouraged, or perceived as a weakness which could lose you your competitive edge?

What prevents us from being kind?

We all know that kindness can be a good thing and many of us try to be kind when we can. But it's not always easy. So what are the barriers to being kinder? Is it that we don't notice when someone needs something, that we're afraid of looking weak, or perhaps with strangers we're embarrassed to offer help in case they don't need it or we're mistaken about a situation, or we're just too shy to speak at all? Perhaps with Covid-19 around us, we prefer to keep our distance? There could be all sorts of reasons preventing us from being kinder. Or is it that we're just selfish and not bothered?

HOW TO TAKE PART


The Kindness Test asks for your views on kindness. There are no right or wrong answers. If you fill it in, at the end you get a sneak preview of some of the results so far. Please go to thekindnesstest.org to take part.

And thank you to the thousands who already have. You're very kind.

Comments

Dr Shawn Pourgol 3 year ago
Great article. I loved it. Please write less about bitcoin and more about other life improvement topics. Over half of your articles are about Bitcoin! Instead of PanaTimes, the newspaper should be called BitCoinTimes! 😀

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Apple warns against drying iPhones with rice
In a recent High Court hearing, the U.S. argued that Julian Assange endangered lives by releasing classified information.
Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Lockbit Ransomware Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died at the Arctic prison colony
The President of Argentina Javier Mile does not fly private, he flies commercial, with the citizens he represents. And they LOVE him for it.
Bitcoin Reaches $50,000 for First Time in Over Two Years
Belo Horizonte: Brazil's Rising Carnival Hotspot for 2024
In El Salvador, the 'Trump of Latin America' stuns the world with a speech slamming woke policing after winning a landslide election
Tucker’s interview with Putin is over 50M views on X within the first 5 hours.
Finnish Airline, Finnair, is voluntarily weighing passengers to better estimate flight cargo weight
President Nayib Bukele has proudly announced El Salvador's remarkable achievement of becoming the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Dies in Helicopter Crash
This farmer seems to understand science a bit more than the event organizer, Klaus Schwab.
Facebook turns 20: From Mark Zuckerberg's dormitory to a $1trn company
The Coolest Dictator in the World" on the Path to Victory in El Salvador
Macron, France and fake news
Indian-Origin Man 'King' Arrested For Smuggling $16 Million Drugs Into US
Can someone teach Americans that not every person with slanted eyes is Chinese?
Europe's Farmers Feeding the People, Protesting Against Politicians Who Do Nothing for Their Country and Serve Only Themselves at Taxpayers' Expense
Paris Restaurant That Inspired 'Ratatouille' Loses $1.6 Million Worth Of Wine
Brazilian Police Investigate Bolsonaro's Son for Alleged Illegal Spying
Police in Brazil Raid Residence of Bolsonaro Associate Over Allegations of Illegal Spying
Border Dispute Escalates as Texas Governor Vows Increased Razor Wire
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT-4 Model, Potentially Addressing AI "Laziness" Issue
The NSA finally acknowledges spying on Americans by acquiring sensitive data
Report Reveals Toxic Telegram Group Generating X-Rated AI-Generated Fake Images of Taylor Swift
US Border Patrol States 'No Plans' to Remove Razor Wire Installed in Texas
Bitcoin Experiences Approximately 20% Decline in Value
Klaus Schwab recently appointed himself as the Earth's "trustee of the future."
DeSantis Drops Out, Endorses Trump.
Nikki Haley said former President Trump is "just not at the same level" of mental fitness as he was while president in 2016.
Residents of a southern Mexican town set the government palace on fire in response to the police killing of a young man
Samsung Launches AI-Driven Galaxy S24, Ushering in New Smartphone Era
Judge Questions SEC's Regulatory Overreach in Coinbase Lawsuit
The Ecuador prosecutor who was investigating the television studio attack, has been assassinated.
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his US election campaign and endorses Trump.
Viral Satire: A Staged Satirical Clip Mistaken as Real Footage from the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Ecuador Reports 178 Hostages in Prison Gang Standoff
The Startling Cuban Espionage Case That Has Rattled the US Government
Two Armed Men in Ecuador, Dressed as Batman and The Joker Storm the Streets.
Armed Gang Raids Ecuadorian TV Station Following State of Emergency Declaration
Anti-Democratic Canada: Journalist Arrested for Questioning Canadian Finance Minister on Support of Terrorist Group
Ecuador's 'Most-Wanted' Criminal Vanishes from Prison
Mexican Cartel Supplied Wi-Fi to Locals Under Threat of Fatal Consequences for Non-Compliance
Border Surge Leads to Over 11,000 Migrants Waiting in Northern Mexico
Outsider Candidates Triumph in Latin American Elections
As Argentina Goes to the Polls, Will the Proposal to Replace the Peso with the Dollar Secure Votes?
Fatal Shark Attack Claims Life of Boston Woman Paddleboarding Near Bahamas Resort, According to Police
×