Amidst the unrest and turmoil in our nation right now, a new study reveals not all is lost, as people really do want to be kind to each other.
Researchers found that people overwhelmingly choose to be generous to others, even if it is at the cost of themselves and regardless of external motives.
The study, conducted online, asked participants to give money to other people, which the team assumed would lead to subjects anticipating something in return for their generosity.
However, the experiment revealed volunteers were largely willing to hand strangers cash without any motivation behind it – just the notion of helping the individual.
The study was conducted by teams at Ohio State University and the University of South Carolina.
David Melamed, lead author of the study and an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University and his team invited more than 700 people to participate in the study online.
The group used the four main motivators when it comes to helping other people.
- One is the idea that someone is inclined to do something nice for someone else with the motive of gaining – the notion of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.’
- The second involves observing an act of kindness and reciprocating and the third is a person’s doing good in the presence of people in their network who might reward their generosity.
- The final motivator is a person likely to ‘pay it forward’ to someone else if someone has done something nice for them.