Philip Chard's Out of My Mind column is sponsored by AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop, which offers online classes in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching and editing services. You can read past columns here.
Finding it difficult to be optimistic about humanity?
In tumultuous times such as ours, it doesn’t take long to question whether people truly are good at heart, as is often asserted. Unfortunately, bad news boosts ratings, so we are saturated with disturbing media accounts of violence, cruelty, treachery and injustice, often displaying people at their worst. And, as history proves, our worst can be horrific.
Well, take heart. A large new study shows that, overall, humans are surprisingly generous, giving and kind, even in turbulent times. You might not believe that after binge-watching your preferred news channel or social media outlet or combing through a “all the bad news that’s fit to print” newspaper, so let’s consider what this research tells us about human nature.
First off, the overwhelming majority of subjects in the study were inclined to engage in what sociologists refer to as “prosocial behavior,” which is the obvious opposite of antisocial behavior. Kindness, mutual respect, courtesy and cooperation are all elements of prosocial interactions. Assessing a random sample of people across diverse groups, the study concluded a high percentage were inclined toward helping others, including strangers.
Evolutionary Perspective
What the researchers found particularly interesting was that most of us will extend ourselves to others even when it costs us time, money, energy, inconvenience and, in dire circumstances, our own well-being and safety. This tendency (“I’ll help you even if costs me”) left the study’s authors scratching their heads a bit. As they put it:
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“From an evolutionary perspective, it’s kind of perplexing that it [generosity] even exists, because you're decreasing your own fitness on behalf of others. And yet, we see it in bees and ants, and humans and throughout all of nature.” One counterpoint, of course, is that early humans needed social units, like the tribe, to survive, so helping others was clearly adaptive and street smart, so to speak. Only later did we decide to make generosity a virtue.
Regardless, what motivates modern humans to act in generous, kind and self-sacrificing ways, even toward strangers? This research concluded there are four primary motivations.
- Being a recipient of kindness: When someone does something helpful for us, we are motivated to return the favor. This creates a positive feedback loop in which giving becomes self-perpetuating. That’s a type of contagion we need plenty of.
- Paying it forward: When we can’t repay a kindness someone has extended to us, we are motivated to seek out and help another person in need of some generosity. This is the other scenario that perpetuates helping others.
- Rewarding someone who does good for others: When we see someone behaving kindly or charitably to another person, we are inclined to “reward” that individual by behaving generously toward them. This helps us uphold a sense of fairness, an attribute sorely lacking in much of life.
- Living in a caring social network: Whether in our personal lives, at work or both, we are more likely to behave kindly when our family, friends and co-workers role model generosity. It’s a sort of attitudinal osmosis and reflects how we uphold shared values.
I believe there is another motivating factor behind our inclination to be kind and helpful to others. At a very deep level, whether we consciously like it or not, we feel connected by our common challenges. In this world, no one is spared pain and suffering. Therefore, doing what we can to ease the suffering of others brings forth what Lincoln called our better angels. Within this connectedness, what happens to one of us happens to all. So, helping someone in need is a tangible demonstration that we’re all in this together.
Socrates said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” In these arduous times, with suffering, divisiveness and mayhem swirling around us, it’s comforting to know that most of us are up to the task.
Philip Chard's Out of My Mind column is sponsored by AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop, which offers online classes in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching and editing services. You can read past columns here.
