tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/generosity-31040/articlesGenerosity – The Conversation2023-11-27T19:56:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2151482023-11-27T19:56:13Z2023-11-27T19:56:13Z3 ways to encourage kids to be more charitable and kind this holiday season<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/3-ways-to-encourage-kids-to-be-more-charitable-and-kind-this-holiday-season" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>With the holiday season just around the corner, families and households will soon be gathering to give and receive gifts. Many will also be sending donations to communities in crisis, and organizing charity events and food drives to help others.</p>
<p>The reason for our holiday generosity is obvious to us as adults. We hold a sense of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.149.4.425-449">moral responsibility</a> to be kind and get a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1140738">satisfying feeling</a> of having done a good deed.</p>
<p>For children, it can sometimes be less clear why, when and how they should show kindness to others. </p>
<p>Child psychology researchers have spent decades trying to understand exactly what parents need to do and say with our children to help them truly understand the value and importance of kindness. Based on my research and that of other developmental psychology researchers, here are three things science says parents can do to encourage generosity this holiday season. </p>
<h2>Model kindness</h2>
<p>Children learn best by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.brat.2010.02.006">seeing and imitating</a>. Observing adults and the consequences of their actions teaches children which behaviours are good or bad, kind or mean. </p>
<p>As a parenting and child psychology researcher, I have worked with colleagues to understand how parents can model kindness and generosity to successfully teach their children these same values. Our research suggests that parents who practice kind and warm interactions with their children tend to have kind and generous kids. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12287">speaking with your child</a> about emotional experiences you each had during the day can help your child learn how to help others feel better when they’re distressed. </p>
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<img alt="A black woman holds the hand of a young black girl sitting on a bed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560913/original/file-20231121-24-cnjoim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Modelling kindness can help teach kids about charity and generosity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Naturally, modelling kindness is also most effective when you hold kindness and generosity as deeply cherished values. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12156">research</a>, we have found that kids donate more money to a charity when mothers deeply hold these values. </p>
<p>As we head into the holidays, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-parents-can-be-emotion-coaches-as-kids-navigate-back-to-school-during-covid-19-166148">continue to show empathy</a> and kindness to your children, modelling for them that being kind can show someone in crisis that you care. </p>
<p>With the ongoing wars and disasters across the world, kids might get distressed when hearing about other children in crisis. In these cases, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0904_1">help your kids</a> feel better by talking about their feelings and comforting them, and offer suggestions on what you can do as a family to help those in need. Also consider taking your kids with you to volunteer at a local shelter or organizing a food drive with the whole family to model charity and generosity. </p>
<h2>Avoid rewarding generosity</h2>
<p>It’s natural to want to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/toddlersandpreschoolers/consequences/rewards.html#:%7E:text=Rewards%20are%20important%20for%20many,you%20want%20her%20to%20do.">reward children</a> when they are generous to others. You probably feel proud of your kids when they share or donate, and you might want to show them that you are happy with how they behave.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.4.509">developmental psychologists have shown</a> that some rewards can thwart children’s future desire to be kind. Kids simply don’t offer to help others as much when they are given material rewards — like gifts, treats or money — compared to being <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12086">praised</a> or receiving <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12534">no feedback</a> at all. </p>
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<img alt="Young kids putting canned and dry food items in a box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560909/original/file-20231121-23-dqaehc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Praising, rather than rewarding, a child’s generosity can encourage them to become more charitable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Instead of rewarding your child for donating part of their allowance, consider rewarding them with your words by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/toddlersandpreschoolers/communication/goodbehavior-praise.html">praising</a> them. Even a smile can go a long way — and they might even produce a bigger donation next year. </p>
<h2>Praise who they are, not what they do</h2>
<p>Over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0293-5">60 per cent of parents</a> report praising their kids for being kind to others. But certain types of praise are better than others to encourage kindness. Praising a child for being a kind person is more effective than praising their kind behaviour. Kids praised for being a kind or helpful person have been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12082">volunteer more time</a> to helping others compared to kids praised for working hard to help others. </p>
<p>This kind of “person praise” can be effective for guiding your child to self-identify as a person who always helps others. To encourage your kids’ generosity this holiday season, praise their charitable actions by telling them they are a kind person or that they are the type of kid who really understands how other people feel. </p>
<h2>Fathering and mothering</h2>
<p>Traditionally, compared to fathers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.32.6.999">mothers</a> have been shown to pay more attention to their children’s kindness and helping behaviours. Even when engaging in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3200/GNTP.168.2.177-200">same warm and empathetic parenting</a>, fathers seem to encourage their kids’ co-operation and conflict resolution, while mothers encourage more sharing and generosity with others.</p>
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<img alt="A man and teen boy walk and talk to each other" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560911/original/file-20231121-23-f3dfpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">More engaged fathers can help their kids develop greater empathy for others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>That said, in the last few decades, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0101">fathers have taken a more central role</a> in parenting. Fathers and mothers are increasingly playing a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2021.1927931">similar and shared role</a> in encouraging their children’s co-operative and helpful behaviour. </p>
<p>There is even some evidence that engaged fathers have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02379">more direct</a> impact than engaged mothers on children’s development of helping behaviour. When fathers stay connected with and involved in raising their children, the children are likely to feel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.4.709">more empathy</a> for others, well into adulthood.</p>
<p>Rather than thinking that fathers must do something different from mothers, the parents must <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032893">equally commit</a> to the shared aim of raising a kind and generous child.</p>
<p>As we approach the holidays, research suggests to use modelling and give praise to encourage kids to be generous and kind. If you’re participating in a holiday food drive for refugees, have your kids tag along and help sort foods. When your kids want to make a donation, praise them for being kind individuals. These small steps can help your child build empathy for others and show kindness to those in need, and might even make them more generous the next holiday season.</p>
<p>After all, what would the holidays be without sharing?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hali Kil receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>As we approach the season of giving, a child psychology researcher offers suggestions on how parents can teach their kids to be generous and kind.Hali Kil, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174822023-11-17T14:12:41Z2023-11-17T14:12:41ZChristmas TV ads underscore how generosity, compassion and empathy still matter to people<p>Christmas ad campaigns have become headline-worthy moments in the British national calendar, hailed by pundits and awaited by an eager public. The fact that they are now <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12719901/John-Lewis-teases-Christmas-advert-2023.html">teased</a>, like big-screen cinema releases, is proof enough that, in calendar terms, the major-retailer Christmas ad is a seasonal event in itself. </p>
<p>This year, two ads so far have garnered much attention. John Lewis’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/nov/09/john-lewis-christmas-advert-a-terrifying-dog-eating-plant-that-vomits-presents-yes-please">Snapper the Perfect Tree</a> features a young boy who plants what he is told is a Christmas tree seed, only to watch it grow into a giant, sentient Venus flytrap. With operatic flair, the plant sings and dances its way into the family’s hearts. </p>
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<p>In contrast to this, <a href="https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/love-thismas-not-thatmas-ms-reveals-its-christmas-clothing-home-campaign">M&S’s Love Thismas (Not Thatmas) campaign</a> has celebrities sabotaging traditional Christmas rites and activities. Actors Hannah Waddingham and Zawe Ashton respectively shred party hats and bat tree decorations. Queer Eye star Tan France sends board game pieces flying into a fish tank. And the pop star, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, takes a culinary blow torch to the cards she’s meant to be writing. </p>
<p>There is, of course, much to dislike about Christmas. It has long been associated with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117564">destructive consumption</a>, <a href="https://www.businessleader.co.uk/the-dark-environmental-impacts-of-our-christmas-season/">environmental harm</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-christmas-list-supporting-modern-slavery-the-dilemma-of-shopping-ethically-this-festive-season-173111">workplace exploitation including modern slavery</a> and even increasingly divisive <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14775700.2023.2273078">culture wars</a>. Nonetheless, Christmas ad producers seem to have become adept at combining commerce with the heartwarming message that this is a time of year when everyone shares responsibility for each other’s happiness and wellbeing. </p>
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<p>In my recent book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Organizing-Christmas/Hancock/p/book/9781032552705">Organizing Christmas</a>, I show that, whatever misgivings people might have, there remains good cause to welcome the festive season. The excesses it promotes are still underpinned by the idea that generosity, compassion and empathy are values that matter. </p>
<h2>Christmas controversy</h2>
<p>John Lewis’s Snapper has been hailed as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/nov/09/john-lewis-christmas-advert-a-terrifying-dog-eating-plant-that-vomits-presents-yes-please">something of a departure</a> from their past Christmas offerings. The message nonetheless remains that openness to and inclusion of others is the true meaning of the season – even if they happen to be a giant carnivorous plant</p>
<p>Somewhat in contrast, the takeaway of the M&S ad is that we should prioritise more “me time” at yuletide. Moreover, unlike the John Lewis offering, the M&S ad, with its emphasis on glitzy celebrities and adult-only fun, appears to be targeting – relatively narrowly – the much-maligned metropolitan elite, albeit one slightly shorter on cash than usual. The ad therefore encourages its viewers to self-indulge while they can get away with it, the festive dreams and traditions of others be damned.</p>
<p>This has provoked a backlash from more conservative commentators. </p>
<p>The vocal headteacher and former chair of the Department for Education’s social mobility commission, Katharine Birbalsingh, wrote a <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/katharine-birbalsingh-marks-spencer-christmas-advert-b1118005.html">letter of complaint</a> to M&S. She accused the retailer of ignoring “the spirit of Christmas self-sacrifice, gratitude, giving of one’s time and finances to help one’s fellow man”.</p>
<p>This sentiment has found an echo in the media. GB News presenter Mark Dolan <a href="https://youtu.be/v1S5Hx05pf0?si=tQ13f0K2Z1cGQ08F">described</a> the advert as “wokery at its finest” and a “denigration of a national tradition”. </p>
<p>By contrast, others, including <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/marks-spencer-ms-christmas-ad-katharine-birbalsingh-b2442177.html">radio presenter James O’Brien and broadcaster James May</a>, have derided Birbalsingh’s comments. To <a href="https://twitter.com/writehandmedia/status/1720463231876026829">journalist Sonya Thomas’s mind</a>, Birbalsingh has simply “lost the plot”. </p>
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<h2>Hope at Christmas</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Organizing-Christmas/Hancock/p/book/9781032552705">research</a> suggests, however, that Birbalsingh might have a point. The consumer juggernaut that Christmas has become still relies not on what we can get out of the season but on what we can give to and share with others for much of its legitimacy. And that generosity, as a value, does remain integral to understanding the season’s continued popularity. </p>
<p>This is what German philosopher Ernst Bloch <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/apr/29/frankfurt-school-ernst-bloch-principle-of-hope">might have called</a> the season’s “cultural surplus”. This is a set of ideas that, despite the worst excess of Christmas, stubbornly legitimises the season for the better, sustaining a sense of hope for a more compassionate and generous world. </p>
<p>From a purely commercial point of view, while provoking discussion can enhance a brand’s seasonal presence, the last thing any retailer wants is <a href="https://theconversation.com/glittering-penguins-the-power-of-the-christmas-ad-to-win-over-and-lose-customers-34025">negative publicity</a>. This is particularly true of flagship Christmas ads, given their ability to contribute to the <a href="https://www.mediaperformance.co.uk/2022/04/01/the-importance-of-christmas-advertising/">seasonal uplift in retail</a>. More importantly, though, the ad could have more widespread impact than to tarnish M&S’s reputation. </p>
<p>The problem is that the M&S ad does not just hold these values up to closer scrutiny. Unlike the John Lewis ad, it visibly celebrates the more narcissistic side of Christmas, thereby undermining the credibility of those ideas that have long served to sell us the annual Christmas dream. </p>
<p>On a more progressive note, it might also rightly prompt viewers to critically question just what this Christmas is that we are being sold. This could, in turn, nurture a more open and less self-serving way of embracing the season – and our lives together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Hancock received funding from the British Academy (SG54347).</span></em></p>The excesses Christmas promotes are still underpinned by the idea that generosity, compassion and empathy are values that matter.Philip Hancock, Professor of Work and Organisation, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085372023-07-14T12:46:55Z2023-07-14T12:46:55ZDonors who feel upbeat are more likely to give to charity – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536690/original/file-20230710-23-liq0z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=114%2C26%2C5774%2C3831&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Feeling generous?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hispanic-tattoo-woman-with-smartphone-in-bedroom-royalty-free-image/1443546298?adppopup=true">Vera Vita/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>When people feel happier, they’re more likely to donate to charity. That’s what we, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4l0VNcUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">two economists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=LKP05dcAAAAJ">who study what motivates</a> environmentally conscientious consumption and support for free services, found in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead041">new study</a> published in The Economic Journal. </p>
<p>To conduct this research, we analyzed tweets from over 20,000 Twitter users who used the hashtag “#iloveWikipedia.” That slogan is part of a template that Wikipedia suggests to anyone who has just completed a donation on its online platform, so it helped us identify people who have given money to the free online encyclopedia edited by volunteers. Those donations funded the <a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation</a>, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia.</p>
<p>We evaluated the donors’ moods by using <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/natural-language-processing">natural language processing</a> tools. These tools assigned a score to each tweet to indicate how positive or negative the mood was for each tweet.</p>
<p>For example, a tweet that says “Woohoo! Awesome Pete!” would get a positive sentiment score, while one that says “THIS MADE ME CRY OUT OF ANGER AND SADNESS AND FRUSTRATION.” would get a negative one. We used four different scoring systems, all of which allowed us to gauge how strongly positive or negative a Twitter user’s mood was. We could adjust these sentiment scores by comparing them to a user’s other tweets.</p>
<p>We found that donors’ sentiments became more upbeat up to an hour before they made a gift to support Wikipedia and then declined, becoming more neutral pretty quickly after that. Donors tended to be in especially good moods before making their gifts, but they regressed quickly to their more typical mood afterward.</p>
<p>We can’t be sure why people were feeling happier before they donated than they did afterward, but our findings suggest that feeling good could make you more likely to give to charity. We call this the “preheating effect.” Our observation about donor behavior contrasts with an economic theory that people may give to charity because it makes them feel good about doing the right thing. This feeling is known as a “<a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/warm-glow-giving">warm glow</a>.” </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Scholars of philanthropy have long known that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Science-of-Giving-Experimental-Approaches-to-the-Study-of-Charity/Oppenheimer-Olivola/p/book/9781138981430">giving to charity is tied to happiness</a>. What’s less clear is whether being charitable makes people happier, or whether happier people are more charitable. Our study offers new evidence that feeling happy before they’re asked to make a donation makes people more likely to give. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033366">Previous studies</a> have sought to make research participants feel happy or sad and then analyzed how those moods may affect their inclination to behave in helpful ways. However, we were able to capture the donors’ real-world moods, which is more relevant to fundraising in terms of determining what might make someone more likely to make a charitable donation.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Based on the evidence we scraped from tweets, it’s not possible to tell whether being in a good mood makes people more likely to give to charity, or if feeling happy simply makes donors more likely to tweet about their gifts.</p>
<p>Also, our study looked at the apparent emotional state of Twitter users, and not everyone actively uses that social media platform. Because of that limitation, we can’t know whether everyone experiences this same preheating effect. </p>
<p>We also didn’t figure out whether preheating varies across age, gender, race or class lines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Donors’ sentiments expressed on Twitter became more cheerful before they made a gift to support Wikipedia, researchers found.Nathan W. Chan, Associate Professor of Resource Economics, UMass AmherstCasey Wichman, Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077902023-07-12T12:39:39Z2023-07-12T12:39:39ZChildren, like adults, tend to underestimate how welcome their random acts of kindness will be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536832/original/file-20230711-7795-jjqo2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C179%2C3478%2C2751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Little thoughtful gestures can make someone's day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/big-hand-giving-pencil-to-man-royalty-free-illustration/1064885574?phrase=pencil+gift&adppopup=true">alashi/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>From <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618772506">expressing gratitude</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001271">surprising someone with a mug of hot chocolate</a> on a cold day, adults tend to underestimate how positively others will respond to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001271">random acts of kindness</a>. I’m a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p4aWpaQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">behavioral scientist</a> who teamed up with my research partner <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=4BpUtrQAAAAJ">Nicholas Epley</a> on research that showed how children and teens share this misunderstanding.</p>
<p>We gave 101 kids who were 4-17 years old and 99 adults who were visiting a museum in Chicago an opportunity to perform a random act of kindness. They received two museum-branded pencils and were told that they could keep both pencils but were encouraged to give one to another visitor.</p>
<p>The people taking part in this stage of our two experiments then completed a survey asking them to predict how big the pencil’s recipient would consider this act of kindness to be, how positive or negative that person would say they felt afterward, and how good or bad the act of giving the pencil away made them feel.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, and out of sight of the people who gave pencils away, the people who received them – or a parent or legal guardian if they were kids – were approached by a researcher and told that someone else taking part in the study chose to give them a pencil as a random act of kindness. Those people then said how big that act of kindness was and how receiving it made them feel.</p>
<p>We compared the predictions of the people who gave pencils away with what the people receiving the pencils experienced and found that, like adults, most of the kids participating in the study underestimated the positive impact of their small act of kindness. </p>
<p>As we explained in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001433">Journal of Experimental Psychology</a>, we found that the vast majority of the people of all ages said they felt better after giving a pencil to a stranger.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Our findings show that doing good feels good, both for those who do good deeds and those who benefit directly from those actions.</p>
<p>Yet, despite the fact that <a href="https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2017/02/do-social-ties-affect-our-health">connecting with others is good for your health</a>, the world is experiencing a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0027">loneliness epidemic</a> that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001005">COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated</a>. </p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Our findings contribute to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221128016">growing body of research</a> suggesting that people may be reluctant to do good deeds because they don’t realize how welcome these acts of kindness are. </p>
<p>Related research has cast light on the tendency to underestimate just how much others will appreciate many expressions of kindness, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618772506">unexpectedly hearing from a friend</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000277">receiving a compliment</a>. People even misunderstand how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221097615">willing others are to lend a hand</a> with chores like carrying boxes or stepping in to take a picture.</p>
<p>Some evidence even suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000277">people want to give more compliments than they usually do</a>.</p>
<p>Unlike these other experiments, we were able to show that the tendency to misunderstand how much good their small acts of kindness can do begins early in life. Learning what the social consequences of this failure to appreciate just how big of a deal small acts of kindness are requires more research.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Echelbarger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a study with people as young as 4 years old, participants underestimated how much others would appreciate their good deeds.Margaret Echelbarger, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967842022-12-18T12:20:18Z2022-12-18T12:20:18ZHow to live up to the true spirit of Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501649/original/file-20221217-22510-tt2p4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People enjoying Christmas decorations in Johannesburg, South Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If the media, popular entertainment, and retail habits are taken as indicators then the celebration of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas">Christmas</a> is no longer just the reserve of Christians. This has some consequences for the religious and non-religious alike.</p>
<p>In popular culture and the media, Christmas is portrayed as a time of happiness, togetherness, generosity, and peace. In the “made for Christmas” movies, such as those on the popular <a href="https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/christmas">Hallmark Channel</a>, a “feel good” message is the order of the day.</p>
<p>Whether it be the rekindling of a <a href="https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/christmas-in-tahoe">long-lost love</a> or <a href="https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/christmas-at-the-golden-dragon">reconciling</a> between family members after a long and painful conflict, viewers are led to believe that there is a certain kind of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508419867205">“magic”</a> at work during what has become known in largely <a href="https://chrestomathy.cofc.edu/documents/vol11/davis.pdf">secular terms</a> as “the holiday season”. </p>
<p>Many people believe, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021516410457">either overtly or tacitly</a>, that Christmas and the celebrations surrounding it will bring them joy, peace, happiness and togetherness.</p>
<p>In my <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ids.v56i1.2849">research</a>, which is in a field called <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/ctpi/what/">public theology</a>, I study such “beliefs” to try to understand where they come from, why people hold them, and what implications they have for our social, political and economic life.</p>
<p>I call these <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_3PnDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT17&dq=dion+forster+secular&ots=R7LY9TV9Ea&sig=Qp3CMnur46BuSNxLb6TKRyLvxv0#v=onepage&q=dion%20forster%20secular&f=false">“secular beliefs”</a> to differentiate them from traditional “religious beliefs”. A secular belief is not formally attached to a religion, or has become detached from a particular religion over time. In this sense, Christmas has come to embody a kind of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09345-1_5">“secular spirituality”</a>. This has much more in common with the dominant symbols and aspirations of our age (such as leisure, pleasure, social control and consumption) than it does with its religious roots.</p>
<h2>Understanding Christmas</h2>
<p>Christmas, as the name suggests, is linked to the birth of Jesus the Christ. As a professor of theology, I have often jokingly said, “Christ is not Jesus’s surname”. The word “Christ” comes from the Greek word <em>Χρίστος</em> (Chrístos), which is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word “messiah” (<em>מָשִׁיחַ</em> or <em>māšīaḥ</em>). For Jewish people, and later for Christians (people who name themselves after their messiah, Jesus the Christ), the messiah was God’s <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wJe_SIyxwEkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=messiah+as+liberator&ots=HPiqhXM9jn&sig=LDQwEKNz2FV2dQZL7fv46_Xaydc#v=onepage&q=messiah%20as%20liberator&f=false">promised liberator</a> – a King who would come to liberate God’s people from their oppressors and lead them in peace and prosperity.</p>
<p>Christians believe that Jesus is the promised messiah (according to passages in the Bible, such as Isaiah 9:6-7, John 4:25 and Acts 2:38). He came preaching a message of love, peace and anti-materialism. </p>
<p>Early in Christian history, Christians began to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ (the promised liberator) in special services, what became known as the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/mass">“mass”</a> after the Latin word <em>missa</em>. Hence, it was the combination of those two words that later became one word, Christmas, a feast that celebrates liberation, peace and joy through the messiah.</p>
<p>When presented in these terms, it would not be surprising to ask what the contemporary presentations of Christmas (particularly in the western world) have to do with the celebration of Jesus the Christ. Santa Claus, snowmen and reindeer seem to have replaced Jesus and his disciples. </p>
<p>Instead of focusing on messianic liberation and anti-materialism, Christmas is focused on parties, family gatherings, and gift-giving. In other words, like so much of western modernity, the focus has turned from the <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/A_Secular_Age/hWRXYY3HRFoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=charles+taylor+secular+age&printsec=frontcover">sacred to the secular</a> and from God to the human self.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021516410457">Research shows</a> that there are seven primary activities and experiences that are attached to the contemporary Christmas holiday:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Spending time with family </p></li>
<li><p>Participating in religious activities</p></li>
<li><p>Maintaining cultural, national, or family traditions (such as decorating a Christmas tree) </p></li>
<li><p>Spending money on others to buy gifts </p></li>
<li><p>Receiving gifts from others</p></li>
<li><p>Helping others (such as a local charity) and</p></li>
<li><p>Enjoying the sensual aspects of the holiday (such as good food and drink, rest, and relaxation).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the same research shows that for many people, these “peaceful” and “joyous” expectations are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021516410457">not met</a>. Christmas is no longer a time of joy, generosity, family togetherness and rest. </p>
<p>Rather, the contemporary expectations of the festive “season” – such as the costs associated with gift giving, travel, celebrations (such as work functions, family gatherings, and community events) – can lead to dissatisfaction, stress, conflict and disappointment. Perhaps you can relate? </p>
<p>Moreover, the burden on <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/17/3/333/1822554?login=false">women</a> is often much higher than it is on men. Women are often expected to arrange gatherings, buy gifts, prepare food, clean up the aftermath and keep the peace.</p>
<h2>Rekindling the true spirit of Christmas</h2>
<p>So, taking these realities into account, what might you do to rediscover the “true”, or at least the historical “spirit” of Christmas this year (whether you are religious or not)?</p>
<p>Here are a few suggestions, based on sociological research.</p>
<p>First, social and psychological research shows that in general, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021516410457">but also at Christmas</a>, people report far greater “well-being”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>when experiences of family closeness and helping others were particularly salient.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Second, that “diminished well-being” is reported where people’s experiences and expectations “focused on the materialistic aspects of the season (spending and receiving)”. Moreover, the research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021516410457">showed</a> that religious people who actively participated in religious gatherings tended to have a more positive experience of Christmas, with their expectations largely being fulfilled.</p>
<p>So, whether you are Christian, or have more of a secular spirituality, it may well be wise to recapture something of the historical “spirit” of the Christ-mass message by engaging in the responsible use of money and time, choosing positive consumption practices, while seeking to foster good relationships with family, friends and colleagues.</p>
<p>Moreover, pay careful attention to issues such as the gendered division of labour and responsibility by sharing the work and effort. In doing so, you just may have a happier Christmas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dion Forster currently receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), the HB Thom fund, and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is affiliated with the Methodist Church of Southern Africa where is and ordained minister of religion.</span></em></p>Research shows that religious people who actively participate in religious gatherings tend to have a more positive experience of Christmas, with expectations largely fulfilled.Dion Forster, Full Professor of Ethics and Head of Department, Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1925092022-11-13T19:03:38Z2022-11-13T19:03:38Z‘Unhappy, unfaithful women’: middle-aged growth replaces self-absorption in Alex Miller’s A Brief Affair<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492714/original/file-20221101-7758-akqusi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C17%2C3876%2C2566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dara Litvinova/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most famous meditations in George Eliot’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/middlemarch-9780141199795">Middlemarch</a> (1872) is on the symbol of the pier-glass: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your pier-glass or extensive surface of polished steel made to be rubbed by a housemaid, will be minutely and multitudinously scratched in all directions; but place now against it a lighted candle as a centre of illumination, and lo! the scratches will seem to arrange themselves in a fine series of concentric circles round that little sun.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Eliot’s parable describes the way our sense of our own importance and value is only relative – a matter of perception. In other words, we are all the protagonists of our own lives, but it would be both naïve and arrogant to presume we are central to anyone else’s life story.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: A Brief Affair – Alex Miller (Allen & Unwin)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Alex Miller’s latest novel explores this concept through a narrative of middle-aged growth: a transition from self-absorption and isolation, to generosity and friendship.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Alex-Miller-Brief-Affair-9781761066573">A Brief Affair</a> is the story of Dr Frances Egan, head of the School of Management at the regional campus of an Australian university. She leads a charmed life: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>she’s already got everything. A lovely home and a family and a successful career.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s disrupted by one night of passion with an international colleague, while on a work trip to China.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-george-eliot-200-years-on-a-scandalous-life-a-brilliant-mind-and-a-huge-literary-legacy-127438">Friday essay: George Eliot 200 years on - a scandalous life, a brilliant mind and a huge literary legacy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Unhappy, unfaithful women</h2>
<p>In one sense, the novel operates in the tradition of narratives of unhappy, unfaithful women: <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/madame-bovary-9781784877460">Madame Bovary</a> (1856), <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58345.The_Awakening">The Awakening</a> (1899), <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lady-chatterleys-lover-9780241951545">Lady Chatterley’s Lover</a> (1928), <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781743095225/the-bride-stripped-bare/">The Bride Stripped Bare</a> (2003). Like the women in those novels, Frances thinks this moment of romantic freedom gives her agency and autonomy; that it offers her, as a harried wife, mother and employee, “something of her own”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492719/original/file-20221101-12-iks4z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The novel largely employs free indirect discourse to convey Frances’s story. This technique describes the use of third-person narration that adopts the nuances of a character’s own speech and perspective, so that “objective” narration is replaced by the character’s subjective views and attitudes, often presented as if they were universally true.</p>
<p>In A Brief Affair, this creates a claustrophobic interiority – we rarely get to see the perspectives of others, mirroring Frances’s own refusal or inability to see or think outside her own experience. The reader will recognise this self-absorption as the main source of her personal and professional conflicts (struggles as a wife and parent, bullying and manipulation by senior management, resentment from her direct reports), even as Frances herself doesn’t see it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-living-in-the-bizarre-world-that-flaubert-envisioned-129211">We're living in the bizarre world that Flaubert envisioned</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Frances is oblivious to the way she has already made everything “her own”, and uncritically expects to be the priority for those around her. For instance, as she leaves for work early in the novel, she steps on a loose stone on the driveway, and slightly stumbles. The event is so minor, it’s hardly worth noting. But when Frances’s husband, Tom, telephones her at lunch, she assumes he is still worried about her slight misstep. His professions of love and admiration for her – “You’re perfect”, “You’re an amazing woman” – are never returned.</p>
<p>Similarly, she views her children as a mere extension of herself and her marriage, assuming the stories her young son writes (but keeps private) must be about his family – and so, her. She is surprised when none of the other passengers on a bus in China look at her. When she discovers the old journal of a former patient at the asylum, which now forms the university campus, she doesn’t see it as belonging to them, but instead feels it is “meant for her”. </p>
<p>She presumes a lull in the conversation means her colleagues are speaking about her in the tearoom, and takes a legitimate professional critique so deeply to heart that her internal response to that colleague is, “I think I hate her”. Working at a campus in the northern suburbs is “the price we must be willing to pay for our vision”, she tells her staff. But nowhere does she display what her stated commitment to education might look like. </p>
<p>Her exploitation of her husband’s care, her children’s devotion and her colleagues’ respect underpins Frances’s own sense of success – or failure. </p>
<p>“Everyone always thinks their own story is the most interesting one we’re ever going to hear,” observes one character. This is precisely what Frances must come to realise. She is not everyone’s story – instead, everyone has their own story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493435/original/file-20221104-21-53nobc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alex Miller’s novel operates in the tradition of narratives of unhappy, unfaithful women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An authentic life</h2>
<p>Frances’s reflections on the “brief affair” of the title demonstrate her personal evolution. For much of the novel, she thinks of her co-conspirator as her “Mongolian warrior”, reducing both him and China, where the one-night affair took place, to a romanticised, highly simplified Orientalist Other – existing only to give meaning to her own experience.</p>
<p>The publisher’s tagline describes A Brief Affair as a novel about “love’s power to change us”. But it’s not her romantic affair that changes Frances: indeed, there is no direct consequence for her infidelity. Rather, France’s gesture towards growth lies in her slow realisation that the most powerful instances of love in her life come from friendship, the commitment of her marriage, and an evolving relationship with her growing children.</p>
<p>Love, in other words, can be found by moving outside the individualist attitude Frances displays in all aspects of her life.</p>
<p>A Brief Affair is a quiet novel, focused on just one life. But in its emphasis on the ways we might each construct our own story – while respecting the stories of others around us – it has a profound impact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Gildersleeve does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest novel by twice Miles Franklin winner Alex Miller traces one woman’s journey from self-absorption and isolation, to generosity and friendship.Jessica Gildersleeve, Professor of English Literature, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1891862022-09-26T19:49:17Z2022-09-26T19:49:17ZHow helping others during major life transitions could be a path to greater well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486327/original/file-20220923-10674-6v290b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=285%2C748%2C6287%2C3252&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some research has shown the effects of stress were reduced when people engaged in higher levels of kindness or generosity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Rodnae Productions)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly <a href="https://higheredstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/HESA_SPEC_2021.pdf">2.5 million students</a> began post-secondary education in Canada this September. The start of college is an exciting time, filled with new friendships, information and routines. Yet, the transition can also be stressful with students managing unfamiliar challenges and adopting different identities.</p>
<p>What can help support student well-being during this life transition? While various strategies encourage people to focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07448480009596294">helping themselves</a> through exercise, nutrition or mindfulness, our research examines the importance of engaging in everyday acts of kindness toward others. </p>
<p>One of the authors of this story, Lara, researches whether helping can promote happiness for the helper <a href="http://www.sfu.ca/psychology/research/hhl">and leads the Helping and Happiness lab</a> at Simon Fraser University. Tiara’s doctoral work examines whether helping and kindness can boost mental health during major life changes, such as the start of post-secondary education.</p>
<h2>Engaging in kind actions</h2>
<p>Many <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/happiness-and-prosocial-behavior-an-evaluation-of-the-evidence/">international surveys</a> reveal that people who engage in kind actions, such as volunteering and donating to charity, also report greater well-being. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Hands seen holding two stacked cups of hot beverages." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486538/original/file-20220926-21-rcc75d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helping others has been shown to promote happiness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, in experiments, people who buy <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340468788_Does_spending_money_on_others_promote_happiness_A_registered_replication_report">small treats for others</a> feel happier after than people who buy the same small treats for themselves. </p>
<p>Helping others has been shown to promote happiness in a wide variety of different groups, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039211">including toddlers</a> under the age of two, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328967971_Does_helping_promote_well-being_in_at-risk_youth_and_ex-offender_samples">recent ex-offenders</a>. Some research has examined how people in both poor and rich countries <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23421360">gain emotional benefits</a> from helping others with their financial resources.</p>
<p>But does helping lead to happiness even when helpers face personal difficulty and stress, such as during a big life change like starting college? </p>
<h2>Reducing everyday stress</h2>
<p>Some evidence suggests that this is possible. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27500075/">One study</a> found the effects of everyday stress were reduced when participants engaged in higher levels of kindness or generosity. </p>
<p>However, life transitions, such as starting college, can bring <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3739977/">higher and longer-lasting stress</a> than every day. </p>
<p>To explore whether giving to others can support mental health during the start of post-secondary education, we asked nearly 200 students in the fall of 2020 and 2021 at Simon Fraser University to report their daily acts of kindness and well-being each week during most of their first semester.</p>
<p>Consistent with predictions, our research, which is currently being written for peer review, found that students felt greater personal happiness, optimism and resilience as well as lower anxiety in the same weeks in which they did more kind acts. </p>
<p>It is worth noting that meaningful acts of kindness were relatively small, inexpensive (or cost-free) and familiar. For instance, students reported sharing notes with their peers, holding the door open for someone walking behind them and helping to edit an essay or homework.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman seen in a yellow shirt on a campus holding books and smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486334/original/file-20220923-15075-fh2h6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What’s the secret to happiness during big life changes?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Self-care and more</h2>
<p>These findings may be surprising, though. During stress and change, people are often advised to focus inward by <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/importance-of-self-care-for-health-stress-management-3144704">practising self-care</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2016.1157488">looking after themselves</a>. </p>
<p>Our data suggest this advice may be useful, too. Students in our sample also reported greater well-being in weeks where they engaged in more self-care including exercise, time with friends or speaking with family. </p>
<p>However, our research offers an additional and likely overlooked path to well-being during life transitions: looking outward to help others. Why not practise complimenting a classmate, sharing advice on where to find parking or even pick up litter on the way to class? </p>
<p>In consideration of the positive benefits of <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/happiness-and-prosocial-behavior-an-evaluation-of-the-evidence/#fn8">volunteering</a>, institutions might explore promoting volunteer activities during the first semester alongside other first-year supports.</p>
<h2>New routines after COVID-19</h2>
<p>We are continuing to explore this question with additional studies and samples. For instance, we are conducting a five-week experiment in which new students are instructed to complete kind acts for themselves or others over the first several weeks of their first semester of post-secondary study. </p>
<p>The question of whether helping others can lead to happiness during a major life transition is broadly relevant as millions of people start new jobs, move to new cities or adjust to new routines in the wake of COVID-19.</p>
<p>Our research offers a poignant reminder that helping others may also have the benefit of helping ourselves, even during times of uncertainty and change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiara Cash receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (via Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Aknin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>During times of stress and change, people are often advised to practice self-care by looking after themselves, yet what about the benefits of showing kindness to others?Lara Aknin, Distinguished Associate Professor of Psychology, Simon Fraser UniversityTiara A Cash, PhD Student in Social Psychology, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890722022-08-23T18:01:27Z2022-08-23T18:01:27ZTiredness can change how generous you are – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480369/original/file-20220822-77906-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C27%2C6144%2C4046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sleep deprivation affects most of us at some point. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-multiethnic-businessman-sleeping-office-middle-1283682694">Rido/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What determines how generous a person you are? Could it be how much money you have? How kind you are? Or maybe it comes down to your values. These all seem reasonable assumptions, but a <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001733">new study</a> from Berkeley University suggests something that feels as trivial as how well you’ve slept lately can also affect how willing you are to help other people on any given day. It found sleep deprivation leads to a reduction in generosity. </p>
<p>The researchers tested how kind people were when they were tired in three different ways. In the first study, they deprived 21 volunteers of sleep for 24 hours, then asked them how willing they would be to help in a range of scenarios such as helping a stranger carry their shopping bags. </p>
<p>They asked the participants to repeat the altruism questionnaire after a normal night’s sleep. The researchers also studied the 21 participants’ brain activity levels using <a href="https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/fmribrain">fMRI imaging</a>. </p>
<p>Next, 171 volunteers recruited online kept a diary of their sleep before doing the same questionnaire. For both experiments the researchers found that tired participants scored lower on the altruism questionnaire. This was the case regardless of participants’ empathy traits and whether the person they were supposed to help was a stranger or someone familiar to them. </p>
<p>Finally, the researchers analysed over 3.8 million charity donations made in the US before and after the clocks were changed for summer, which causes everyone to loose an hour’s sleep. Donations decreased by 10% in the days after the clocks changed compared to the weeks before and after the transition. </p>
<p>The fMRI imaging analysis found sleep deprivation seems to be connected to reduced activity in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1919402/#:%7E:text=The%20amygdala%20is%20involved%20in%20social%20cognition%20owing%20to%20its,as%20it%20does%20to%20objects.">area of the brain linked to social cognition</a>, which regulates our social interactions with others. The change in brain activity was not related to sleep quality, only to quantity. The good news is this effect is short lived, and disappears once we return to our normal sleep pattern. </p>
<h2>What the research says</h2>
<p>It’s long been established that sleep is critical to many aspects of our health and wellbeing. This was <a href="https://www.nosleeplessnights.com/sleep-deprivation-experiments/">famously demonstrated</a> in 1959, when the American DJ Peter Tripp stayed awake to broadcast live from New York’s Time Square for 201 hours continuously. Peter’s record was beaten in 1964 by Randy Gardner, a teenager who stayed awake for 260 hours (nearly 11 days) for a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180118-the-boy-who-stayed-awake-for-11-days">school science fair project</a>. </p>
<p>Randy and Peter appeared well throughout their experiences. But as the challenge progressed they began to slur their speech, were confused at times and struggled to complete simple tasks such as <a href="https://study.com/learn/lesson/peter-tripp-sleep-deprivation-experiment.html">reciting the alphabet</a>. </p>
<p>Both also had vivid hallucinations. Peter saw cobwebs in his shoes and believed a desk drawer had burst into flames. </p>
<p>We now know that sleep deprivation is linked to mental health problems including <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08995605.2018.1478561?casa_token=vICXF2mWNy8AAAAA:bcDcwpnUvLqqZ55coARUVaEfidZj-3hGuV6RepyWxrFzW62tPpjc5P3iKQb71WQfpWkh_KNxQNWOYA">hallucinations</a> and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00303/full">psychosis</a>. Peter and Randy seemed to recover from their ordeals, but <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2020/5764017/">research shows</a> that severe long term sleep deprivation can lead to lasting neurological problems.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman lies in bed with arms over her face" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480370/original/file-20220822-64689-kzmzz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A lack of sleep can hit your basic cognition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/top-view-aged-woman-lying-on-1789599995">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since Peter and Randy’s stunts, research has found sleep deprivation affects most aspects of our behaviour, not least our basic thinking skills, like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945217303398?via%3Dihub">memory</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7261660/">decision making</a>. Back in 1988, the Association of Professional Sleep Societies published <a href="https://watermark.silverchair.com/110111.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAsUwggLBBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggKyMIICrgIBADCCAqcGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMIOyXCgC2j-JQ-AoaAgEQgIICeM3ZGEyrGzAVNAqQ1XJbEhGhf4k0Rv01ab2ZiQdQ23qNXWfK7vB0wR7FfqzSGkniTmmmHlbGchu60LVrWMQH2lWC6RG_l5clhnJnq7txb_0lIhQSGUa2CcUoXhprTw_EpaXVjVY_-w5ZDJhRY4P_9RUZGDeLs6hyqrSqlQwZKIfhoV8MlB6ucyRi1FAHB5qE2i98R6_Qfo9LwjtkEQixiJf7OR3KeBj1Zjaq-gHkckeZLMtPhAGeyVku8eULww_yqhkstn39TnZr6w4vd5O7YVKZqJbDFdmkK9RKaphV8Bsh_2NR5ufVLZcpH_n36a61K7oNYMSqU9t1em-l5mhtTjkE2Jj3zl8dJcQ1e0IPP_EQTZfqWBWL-pJJFeYUDG-K1AZ9pk3N7tSSlTxN9BYSYTkdAqv1Hjqvm6dBwUcjfQr3dXnAqhmBBPgeOq-D6qfFxpAHSdlmS1extaZRMyowaLWo3z1pG1JR9w3zDx_e8726DdMJAfPhQ1EU0bJoHTVMlS8r0l13VumTM_PWw60frpu8W_abz0GG_d_c1nFPW9vC-ur1wTPL5tmNGr9BrM5eeMGF08bKofyCbRT8ly6a9MgNjN4ex7qj9bfcSNlyWuhGHahGEj2MziiP7xQuPv17-uy4BNO7rZWYVgkWDY_y7kkRIGq1BDkQCD6S3fngc3xsxhr8gjP0DO2lpmvwisclEprB-wEtH-Zu_tgygrMiNz62IvBwaYMjkua9lXW1erKYyf0IxN96gRJ7lUqzZHp8_IG6VHTvnKzG4PArwJFS7ykTc8-PXi8uyl5nWcvdrcz_WgftUtw_RXum_8vn5GY3MyCj1QuTpQS0">a report</a> in the journal Sleep, warning that poor sleep leads to an increased risk of having an accident, such as a road collision or a DIY mishap at home. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945700000320?casa_token=fdwxLdgUU-MAAAAA:UEv4pPd-o1icELSdK-YzkLv1p0x7eQWgyudP1LhBEcWvxHd_AmjbPED8pCjVCTrNlxMUIKaK3w">A study in 2015</a> compared the number of fatal traffic accidents in the US straight after the clocks changed to summer time when clocks go forward and we lose one hour’s sleep and found a significant increase in the number of accidents the day afterwards. </p>
<h2>It all makes sense</h2>
<p>Psychologists believe <a href="https://generosityresearch.nd.edu/assets/10424/social_psychology_of_generosity.pdf">kindness and generosity</a> are part of our social cognition, a complex set of processes which control how we interact with others and how we make decisions about our behaviour towards them. </p>
<p>These decisions are based on many factors. Each of these factors is affected by how well we sleep; our <a href="https://walkerlab.berkeley.edu/reprints/Walker_NatureNeurosci_2007.pdf">memory</a>, all aspects of memory of previous situations, the quality of our <a href="https://neuroptimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sleep-deprivation.pdf">decisions</a>, how <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7261660/">impulsive</a> we are and especially our <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7181893/">emotions</a> and how well we can regulate them. It’s only to be expected that the amount of money we are willing to donate would also be sensitive to sleep. </p>
<p>So next time a friend asks you to donate to their marathon fundraiser, sleep on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Boubert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study found the amount of sleep you had last night can even overwhelm people who have a tendency for kindness.Laura Boubert, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734962022-03-28T12:36:54Z2022-03-28T12:36:54ZHow MacKenzie Scott’s $12 billion in gifts to charity reflect an uncommon trust in the groups she supports<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454181/original/file-20220324-21-7b17cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=156%2C18%2C1795%2C1223&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The top donor is challenging conventional wisdom about giving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-and-his-wife-mackenzie-bezos-poses-as-news-photo/950795948">Jorg Carstensen/dpa/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9">MacKenzie Scott</a> disclosed on March 23, 2022, that she had given <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-philanthropy-aa2fb209ae9915740f563de6611a0509">US$3.9 billion to 465 nonprofits</a> in the previous nine months. These <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-mackenzie-scotts-8-5-billion-commitment-to-social-and-economic-justice-is-a-model-for-other-donors-162829">no-strings-attached donations</a> bring the total she has given away in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-mackenzie-scotts-8-5-billion-commitment-to-social-and-economic-justice-is-a-model-for-other-donors-162829">past two years</a> to at least $12 billion. We asked <a href="https://blog.philanthropy.iupui.edu/2022/03/01/freeman-named-winner-of-2022-dan-david-prize/">philanthropy historian Tyrone Freeman</a> to weigh in on Scott’s approach to donating large sums of money and her emphasis on other forms of generosity.</em></p>
<h2>Is Scott’s philanthropic philosophy unique?</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/mackenzie-scott-philanthropy.html">her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos</a>, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment that extremely affluent people make to <a href="https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=393">give away at least half their wealth</a>. </p>
<p>The pledge’s signatories may <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-window-into-the-hearts-and-minds-of-billionaire-donors-139161">write a letter</a> summing up why they are giving so much to charity and what their priorities are, which gets posted to the internet. Scott did that and amended the letter when she remarried. What makes her stand out from others who have signed the Giving Pledge is that she continues to write about her <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/">donations and what she’s learning about giving in general</a>. As a historian of philanthropy, I study the philosophies and motivations of donors, which I call their “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p085352">gospels of giving</a>.” </p>
<p>Her approach is clearly unique among her peers – other <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-window-into-the-hearts-and-minds-of-billionaire-donors-139161">billionaire donors</a> – because of how she relates to the organizations she supports and the diversity of those causes. She says her overarching goal is “to support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds.”</p>
<p>Scott values the expertise of the groups she supports and their leadership. She says she doesn’t <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/no-dollar-signs-this-time-ec7ab2a87261">adhere to the conventional concept</a> of philanthropy, and she questions the way many of us think about generosity. To her it is not just a numbers game. It’s more about the spirit of giving, the sacrifice in the gift. </p>
<p>One major difference is that very wealthy donors tend to drill down in a single focused area, such as higher education, or a few causes – perhaps the arts or medical research. There are advisers who often <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28860">recommend this approach</a> to have the most impact. </p>
<p>But the nonprofits she has funded cover pretty much everything charitable donors support, from education to health, from social justice to the arts. Her latest donations even include <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/as-mackenzie-scott-donates-3-9b-one-grantee-expresses-ambivalence-102921">global organizations like CARE</a> and <a href="https://www.hias.org/news/press-releases/mackenzie-scott-and-dan-jewett-donate-10m-hias-ukraine-response">HIAS</a> that are serving the needs of Ukrainians whose lives have been turned upside down.</p>
<h2>Which other gifts stand out?</h2>
<p>Some of the largest gifts among the most recently announced are for <a href="https://www.bgca.org/news-stories/2022/March/boys-and-girls-clubs-of-america-announces-281-million-dollar-gift-from-mackenzie-scott">Girls & Boys Clubs of America</a>, <a href="https://www.communitiesinschools.org/articles/article/communities-schools-announces-transformative-investment-help-students-overcome-obstacles-learning/">Communities in Schools</a>, <a href="https://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2022/habitat-humanity-international-and-84-us-habitat-affiliates-receive-transformational">Habitat for Humanity</a>
and <a href="https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/599410-mackenzie-scott-donates-275m-to-planned-parenthood">Planned Parenthood Federation of America</a>. </p>
<p>I think it’s important that she didn’t give to only their affiliates in major cities. Foundations have been <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-gets-less-foundation-money/2015/06/29/">underinvesting in rural America</a> for years. Scott’s supporting dozens of local and regional affiliates in suburban and rural counties.</p>
<p>As I have explained before, her support for <a href="https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-scotts-hbcu-giving-starkly-contrasts-with-the-approach-of-early-white-funders-of-historically-black-colleges-and-universities-159039">historically Black colleges and universities</a> is important. Two recent gifts that she made, to <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/billionaire-mackenzie-scott-gifts-20m-to-meharry-medical-college/">Meharry Medical College</a> and <a href="https://www.cdrewu.edu/newsroom/charles-r-drew-university-medicine-and-science-receives-20-million-donation-philanthropist">Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science</a>, $20 million apiece, were very significant in light of how elite white donors undercut Black higher ed institutions in the early 20th century.</p>
<h2>Does it matter when she publicly discloses information?</h2>
<p>Scott posted an update in December 2021 <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/no-dollar-signs-this-time-ec7ab2a87261">without any details about her latest donations</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, she praised other forms of giving by people without billions to their name. One thing she has drawn attention to is how there’s a lot of informal giving, and that it’s not valued. This puts Scott where the average person is, especially in <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-hispanic-and-asian-american-donors-give-more-to-social-and-racial-justice-causes-as-well-as-strangers-in-need-new-survey-166720">communities of color</a>, where people look after neighbors and family members regularly in their giving.</p>
<p>Since these are charitable activities you can’t deduct from your taxes, you might not think of these helping behaviors and many forms of civic engagement as philanthropy.</p>
<p><a href="http://webarchive.urban.org/publications/311281.html">Unlike nearly all</a> donors <a href="https://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/the-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-campus/">operating on a big scale</a>, she has no offices and, so far, <a href="https://bloomerang.co/blog/5-tips-to-help-your-nonprofit-receive-mackenzie-scott-funds/">no website</a>. She’s been criticized for <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/mackenzie-scott-says-no-dollar-signs-this-time-as-she-finds-new-value-in-philanthropys-meaning/">a lack of</a> <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/mackenzie-scott-is-criticized-for-not-providing-details-in-latest-round-of-gifts">transparency, especially after she didn’t divulge</a> details in December. This sentiment has to do with the widespread belief that the public has a right to know when private interests spread their resources around <a href="https://ktar.com/story/4799980/mackenzie-scott-wont-say-how-much-shes-giving-this-time/">for public benefit</a>. </p>
<p>Her blog posts draw attention to trends people might miss regarding the groups she supports. She states the percentage of these organizations that are led by women, people of color or <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9">people she says have</a> “lived experience in the regions they support and the issues they seek to address.”</p>
<p>When somebody shows you how they’re thinking about their giving and what they support, that could have an impact on others. It may change whether they <a href="https://theconversation.com/alumni-gratitude-and-support-for-causes-are-behind-donations-of-50-million-or-more-to-colleges-and-universities-156086">donate only to their alma mater</a>, for example. Colleges and museums are used to getting these big gifts, but many of the organizations Scott is giving tens of millions of dollars to say these are the largest donations they’ve ever received. She’s shattering the notion of who is a worthy recipient – the unspoken idea that only the elite institutions and the most well-known are worthy of big gifts.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>How does Scott talk about giving that isn’t purely monetary?</h2>
<p>For her it’s about generosity, not just dollars. She’s definitely thinking <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-elon-musk-saved-big-on-taxes-by-giving-away-a-ton-of-his-tesla-stock-172036">beyond the tax breaks she’ll get</a> for charitable gifts.</p>
<p>Her December 2021 post alludes to volunteering and other activities she calls the “work of practical beneficence” practiced by millions of people, estimating that it’s worth about $1 trillion. <a href="https://nccs.urban.org/publication/nonprofit-sector-brief-2019">Researchers have reached similar conclusions</a>. </p>
<p>She also highlighted the estimated <a href="https://globalindices.iupui.edu/tracker/index.html">$68 billion in annual global remittances</a> in that post. When people come to this country, begin working and send money to their homelands, that is a form of philanthropy. They may not use the word, but it’s the same idea, because it’s giving back to your family and your country of origin, and it responds to the same motivation as a donation to an established charity.</p>
<p>I agree that there’s much more to American philanthropy than the roughly <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-gave-a-record-471-billion-to-charity-in-2020-amid-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-job-losses-and-racial-justice-161489">half a trillion dollars</a> donated annually. There are other kinds of giving that fly below the radar screen that are important for survival, community-building, meeting basic needs and even for democracy.</p>
<p>She also addresses the role and value of <a href="https://youtu.be/KS2n7VUBOa0">using your voice</a> as an important part of social change. The history of the abolition, women’s suffrage, civil rights movements and various movements today bear this out. That is something I focus on <a href="https://theconversation.com/400-years-of-black-giving-from-the-days-of-slavery-to-the-2019-morehouse-graduation-121402">in my research</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KS2n7VUBOa0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Historian Tyrone McKinley Freeman joined Bridgid Coulter Cheadle and Kimberly Jeffries Leonard to discuss how Black leaders are following in the footsteps of history’s trailblazers by devoting their time, talent and voice to many causes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do you hope the public takes away from Scott’s approach to giving?</h2>
<p>Scott has emerged as the most notable practitioner of what’s called <a href="https://www.genevaglobal.com/blog/your-reading-list-trust-based-philanthropy">trust-based philanthropy</a>. That refers to the notion that there should be <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-unrestricted-funding-two-philanthropy-experts-explain-164589">fewer strings attached to donations</a> and that reporting requirements and other expectations that often come with grants from foundations can be excessive.</p>
<p>In December 2020, Scott <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/384-ways-to-help-45d0b9ac6ad8">mentioned that she has a team of advisers</a> to help her with screening, although she hasn’t shared what that process looks like. But after that, she is not asking anything else of the organizations she funds. Instead, she has chosen to step back and let them exercise responsibility, giving them space and flexibility. </p>
<p>I hope the public hears her answers to what I like to ask: Who counts as a philanthropist and what counts as philanthropy? I agree with Scott that it’s about more than money and that philanthropy is not only the domain of the wealthy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone McKinley Freeman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The approximately $12 billion she’s given away in the past two years has shattered conventions, explains a philanthropy historian.Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791612022-03-24T18:56:12Z2022-03-24T18:56:12ZPolish generosity risks hardening anti-immigrant sentiments towards Ukrainian refugees in the long term<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453097/original/file-20220318-17-kprk9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8338%2C5559&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Ukrainian refugee takes soup at the train station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, March 17, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to the United Nations, about <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/polands-open-door-policy-helps-ukrainian-refugees-build-new-lives/a-61192590">3.4 million people have fled Ukraine</a> since Russia’s invasion. Of those fleeing, about <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/polands-open-door-policy-helps-ukrainian-refugees-build-new-lives/a-61192590">two million have crossed the border into Poland</a>. </p>
<p>While the initial flows of Ukrainian refugees were housed by the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084201542/ukraine-refugees-racism">approximately one million Ukrainian diaspora in Poland</a> — this is why the Polish government <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-dunkirk-moment-refugee-ukraine-war/">didn’t initially set up refugee camps</a> — future flows of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the-decibel/article-poland-has-taken-in-14-million-refugees-what-happens-now/">refugees will not have such familial or social ties</a> and will require much more state and local support. </p>
<p>Reports from the ground say <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the-decibel/article-poland-has-taken-in-14-million-refugees-what-happens-now/">reception shelters are over capacity</a>, and <a href="https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/03/11/we-cant-take-any-more-refugees-polish-cities-call-on-government-to-seek-eu-and-un-help/">cities are saying they can’t take any more refugees</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of refugees set up temporary beds in a mall (Hala Kijowska)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452959/original/file-20220318-10592-pbe4wa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the larger reception centres in Hala Kijowska mall in Korczowa, Poland on March 3, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sylvie T.)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the last decade, Poland has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/world/europe/immigration-poland-ukraine-christian.html">anti-immigrant</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/poles-dont-want-immigrants-they-dont-understand-them-dont-like-them">anti-refugee</a>, and the ruling right-wing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-and-Justice">Law and Justice party</a> was elected in 2015, at the peak of Europe’s migration crisis, on an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/26/poland-election-migrant-crisis-affecting-eu-politics.html">anti-immigrant platform</a>. So how is an anti-immigrant, anti-refugee government and society going to deal with millions of foreigners? </p>
<p>It’s going to get ugly — even for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWuDajHdCo&ab_channel=RiazHaq">white</a>, “<a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1497974911566061571">civilized</a>,” “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-diversity-230b0cc790820b9bf8883f918fc8e313">intelligent</a>” and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-the-good-bad-and-ideal-refugees-176926">ideal Ukrainian refugees</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-the-good-bad-and-ideal-refugees-176926">Ukraine: The good, bad and ideal refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Poland’s acceptance of millions of war refugees from Ukraine is commendable and should be praised but research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.1979.tb00205.x">social divides that disappear during a crisis often re-emerge stronger after</a>. </p>
<p>Poland’s <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/polands-government-stays-silent-as-xenophobia-worsens/a-39941042">undercurrent of xenophobia</a>, mixed with concerns that refugees <a href="https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/can-polands-economy-absorb-millions-of-ukrainians/f7c8b5db-7f04-45e7-ae46-4f8ff0b2d748">will greatly strain the Polish economy</a>, is putting the country on a path towards negative attitudes about refugees.</p>
<h2>A colder reception</h2>
<p>Poland is accused of warmly welcoming white Ukrainian refugees, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084201542/ukraine-refugees-racism">while refugees of colour are receiving a colder reception</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/extremists-harass-minority-refugees-arriving-poland-ukraine-witnesses/story?id=83203897">African, South Asian and Middle Eastern refugees</a> were attacked earlier this month by Polish nationalists. Fake social media reports said <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/02/people-of-colour-fleeing-ukraine-attacked-by-polish-nationalists">violent crimes — like burglaries, assaults and rapes — are being committed by “economic migrants from the Middle East</a>.” While the Polish government has quickly mounted a campaign to <a href="https://polandfirsttohelp.pl/en">#StopFakeNews</a>, disinformation is endangering the already precarious lives of refugees with darker skin. </p>
<p>To ensure that refugees from Ukraine are assisted no matter their nationality and race, Poland needs to confront its hostility towards foreigners. False narratives that refugees are “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugees-crisis-pro-and-antirefugee-protests-take-place-in-poland-in-pictures-10499352.html">terrorists</a>,” “<a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/all/short_news/polands-most-watched-news-programme-uses-netflix-series-to-call-refugees-criminals/">criminals</a>” and “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084201542/ukraine-refugees-racism">security threats</a>” needs to be stopped, not hijacked for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-14/anti-migrant-stance-helps-boost-polish-ruling-party-s-popularity">political purposes</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/02/people-of-colour-fleeing-ukraine-attacked-by-polish-nationalists">violence</a>. </p>
<p>Acceptance of refugees can’t stop at the border — deeper reflection, social and political changes are required for the acceptance of foreigners into society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sleep on beds in a row on the floor of a stadium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453099/original/file-20220318-13-u567rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor sports stadium of a high school in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on March 18, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A history of anti-refugee policies</h2>
<p>According to the UNHCR in 2012, Poland only approved <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075730/http://www.unhcr-centraleurope.org/en/where-we-work/operations-in-central-europe/poland.html">one per cent of asylum applications</a> and was <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/diminishing-solidarity-polish-attitudes-toward-european-migration-and-refugee-crisis">against the EU’s plan that would have seen 7,000 asylum seekers (mainly from Syria) resettled in Poland</a>. </p>
<p>Part of Poland’s aversion to accepting refugees is because <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/diminishing-solidarity-polish-attitudes-toward-european-migration-and-refugee-crisis">refugees particularly from the Middle East and North Africa are seen as a threat to its strong Catholic majority</a>. The 2014 European Social Survey found that <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/diminishing-solidarity-polish-attitudes-toward-european-migration-and-refugee-crisis">34.3 per cent of Poles said that no Muslim should be allowed to come to Poland</a>. </p>
<p>Dominik Tarczynski, a member of parliament for the Law and Justice party went viral in June 2018 for proudly telling BBC Channel 4’s Cathy Newman that <a href="https://twitter.com/cathynewman/status/1008795519949426689">Poland has admitted zero refugees</a> during the Syrian Refugee Crisis, saying: “<a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/dominik-tarczynski-law-and-justice-party-its-not-about-refugees-its-about-illegal-immigrants">We will not receive even one Muslim because this is what we promised</a>.” He received significant <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asGHu2NzvbI&ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish">backlash</a> but defended his country’s immigration policy by saying: “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/upfront/2019/11/8/why-will-poland-not-take-in-any-muslims">We don’t want Poland being taken over by Muslims, Buddhists, or someone else … and no one will ever force us to take Muslims, Buddhists, non-believers in huge numbers</a>.”</p>
<p>And there are other <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/diminishing-solidarity-polish-attitudes-toward-european-migration-and-refugee-crisis">drivers of anti-immigration sentiment in Poland </a> such as fears over rapid social, cultural and political changes, economic fears that refugees will drain the states’ resources and security fears over concerns of crime and terrorism.</p>
<h2>Poland and Belarus border issues</h2>
<p>Last year, when Belarus began an aggressive campaign to destabilize the European Union by forcing mainly Middle Eastern and African asylum seekers and migrants to cross the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders, Poland was under fire for <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/polish-islamaphobia-cow-migrants-b1928321.html">Islamophobia</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/24/belarus/poland-abuse-pushbacks-border">human rights violations</a> and <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/polish-public-opinion-and-media-in-the-light-of-the-belarus-poland-border-crisis/">anti-immigration sentiments</a>. </p>
<p>While this was largely depicted as the dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/16/poland-belarus-border-crisis-eu-refugees">weaponization of asylum seekers and migrants as pawns for political gain</a>, Poland was criticized for its heavy-handed response, deploying <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/09/unacceptable-migrants-face-desperate-situation-at-poland-belarus-border">20,000 border police</a>, who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/16/poland-belarus-border-crisis-eu-refugees">fired teargas and water cannons</a> at asylum seekers. As of February 2022, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/08/in-limbo-refugees-left-on-belarusian-polish-border-eu-frontier-photo-essay">at least 19 people have died at the border standoff</a>.</p>
<p>As a result of Poland’s anti-immigrant sentiment and the still unresolved refugee crisis at the border of Belarus, many were surprised by the warm reception given to Ukrainians. </p>
<p>Given Poland’s long stance against immigrants and refugees, including <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/second-hand-europe-ukrainian-immigrants-in-poland/">xenophobic attitudes towards Ukrainian migrants following the military conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014</a>, maybe it won’t always be a warm welcome for Ukrainians. </p>
<p>Research on the sustainability of community support during a crisis has found that <a href="https://odihpn.org/publication/bayanihan-after-typhoon-haiyan-are-we-romanticising-an-indigenous-coping-strategy/">local kindness is often short-lived</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.1979.tb00205.x">social divides often re-emerge stronger</a> after immediate danger has passed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Su does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Given Poland’s long stance against immigrants and refugees, it might not always be a warm welcome for Ukrainians.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1737112022-01-03T13:41:32Z2022-01-03T13:41:32ZPhilanthropists seeking to fix big problems must tread carefully – here’s how they can make their efforts more compatible with democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438108/original/file-20211216-25-1qfsryr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C20%2C2258%2C1240&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Martin Luther King Jr. is among the many big thinkers to question the importance of philanthropy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Books-MLKEstate/f4cbd556da9d47e7ae68d84e1eef27d4/photo?boardId=37be9465fcce45d283d5431cccb20a6a&st=boards&mediaType=audio,photo,video,graphic&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=208&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How should wealthy people respond to daunting problems like racism, economic inequality and climate change? Leading thinkers have long questioned whether philanthropy offers appropriate or meaningful solutions to vexing challenges. </p>
<p>Eighteenth-century <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/wollstonecraft-an-historical-and-moral-view-of-the-origin-and-progress-of-the-french-revolution#preview">philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft</a> called private giving “the most specious system of slavery.” Wollstonecraft saw charitable and philanthropic efforts as softening the effects of unjust laws and political institutions – rather than dismantling them. </p>
<p>A century later, the poet and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1017/pg1017-images.html">playwright Oscar Wilde argued</a> that private giving “creates a multitude of sins.” Wilde thought that charity “degrades and demoralizes” while preventing the horrors of systemic injustice from being recognized by those who suffer from it. </p>
<p>Civil rights leader <a href="https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm">Martin Luther King Jr.</a> held that philanthropy is “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/590207-philanthropy-is-commendable-but-it-must-not-cause-the-philanthropist">commendable</a>” but insufficient in the face of challenges like war, racism and poverty. “True compassion,” King wrote, is “to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dR2idGYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">political philosopher who studies the ethics of philanthropy</a>, I see these claims as part of a long tradition of criticism of private giving. In my <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-tyranny-of-generosity-9780197611418">new book</a>, “The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It,” I view these critics as questioning what I call “palliative philanthropy.” </p>
<p>Like <a href="https://getpalliativecare.org/whatis/">palliative care in medicine</a>, which eases pain without curing the disease that causes it, palliative giving strategies address the symptoms of injustices while leaving their causes to fester. Critics claim that donors often fall into this trap.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dying woman is comforted by someone holding her hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438099/original/file-20211216-15-eoyl2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In palliative treatment, medical professionals and caregivers seek to relieve a patient’s pain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-girl-holds-the-hand-of-her-ill-grandmother-royalty-free-image/1352063892">Justin Paget/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Many donations have other goals</h2>
<p>This critique invites some immediate objections.</p>
<p>To be sure, much philanthropy responds to missions other than helping the poor and ending inequality. Thousands of nonprofits seek instead to supplement research funding, preserve cultural heritage or expand opportunities for artistic enrichment.</p>
<p>And it’s generally harder to see how philanthropy with scientific, cultural or artistic missions might serve as a Band-Aid or become counterproductive, versus, say, donations tied to ending hunger or <a href="https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/ea-global-2018-amf-rob-mather/">supplying mosquito nets</a> to reduce the incidence of malaria.</p>
<p>Another question is whether the notion that charitable giving is merely palliative applies equally when philanthropists try to tackle the root causes of society’s deepest problems.</p>
<p>That’s <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/what_exactly_do_we_mean_by_systems">a common goal of U.S. philanthropy</a>. For years, its leaders have embraced the notion that donated funds can facilitate <a href="https://ssir.org/up_for_debate/article/strategic_philanthropy">systemic change</a> in everything from financial exclusion to human trafficking.</p>
<h2>Attacking the political sources of social problems</h2>
<p>But critics of palliative philanthropy often call for more direct methods of institutional reform.</p>
<p>Since laws and policies create and regulate institutions, transforming unjust institutions requires fundamental alterations to these laws and policies. As University of Chicago philosopher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jbznB3EAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Brian Leiter</a> <a href="https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2015/06/effective-altruist-philosophers.html">puts it</a>, “[H]uman misery has systemic causes, which charity never addresses, but which political change can address; ergo, all money and effort should go towards systemic and political reform.”</p>
<p>For Queen’s University philosopher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AoKsdeAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Will Kymlicka</a>, an individual’s primary obligation in the face of injustice is to <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/between-state-and-market-products-9780773520967.php">mobilize politically</a> to press for just institutions.</p>
<p>For Northeastern University political scientist <a href="https://cssh.northeastern.edu/faculty/emily-clough/">Emily Clough</a>, attacking the root causes of poverty and injustice is best achieved by private <a href="https://bostonreview.net/articles/emily-clough-effective-altruism-ngos/">funding efforts to hold governments accountable</a>.</p>
<p>Donors, in other words, should spend less on providing people in need with the goods and services they require. And they should spend far more on political campaigns, lobbying, legal action and policy advocacy, even when this might mean <a href="https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/explainers/what-can-and-cannot-philanthropy-do-in-terms-of-advocacy-policy-and-politics">forgoing the tax breaks</a> tied to conventional charitable gifts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tree roots clamber down an old brick wall coated in green moss." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438107/original/file-20211216-27-1eyk2iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sometimes root problems get in the way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-of-tree-roots-royalty-free-image/963248810">Chn Ling Do Chen Liang Dao/EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Educational reform as a cautionary tale</h2>
<p>As I argue in <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-tyranny-of-generosity-9780197611418">my book</a>, Leiter and others critical of palliative giving should be careful what they wish for.</p>
<p>The difficulty is that the solution risks substituting one form of injustice for another. Under conditions of extreme economic inequality, encouraging donors to spend more on efforts to reform laws and policies risks exacerbating political inequality and undermining democracy.</p>
<p>Members of a political community inevitably disagree about why and how their institutions should be designed or reformed. A central demand of democracy is that subjects of these political decisions ought to enjoy equal opportunities for influencing them. Allowing advantages in economic or social status to be exchanged for greater political power conflicts with a commitment to treating one another as free and equal members of society. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-big-bets-on-educational-reform-havent-fixed-the-us-school-system-92327">movement for K-12 education reform</a> in the United States, funded by <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools">billions of dollars annually</a> in charitable contributions, illustrates this point.</p>
<p>In the late 1990s, several foundations coalesced on an education agenda that emphasized market principles, such as choice, competition and performance-based evaluation.</p>
<p>This consortium <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096516000688">went to work</a> on creating and coordinating advocacy groups, lobbying and electing sympathetic officials, creating parallel school systems, and even offering funds directly to cash-strapped public agencies to carry out the reform agenda.</p>
<p>The general public, however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271200360X">wasn’t asking for any of this</a>. Most <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/354083/parents-remain-largely-satisfied-child-education.aspx">Americans are satisfied with the educational system</a>, polling indicates, with many <a href="https://www.the74million.org/america-divided-public-support-for-charter-schools-is-growing-but-so-is-opposition-new-poll-finds/">wary of charter schools and other market-oriented educational reforms</a>.</p>
<p>But since opponents of the reform agenda can’t compete with the resources of its supporters, including the <a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2010/04/12-foundations-commit-to-education-innovation-with-us-department-of-education">Bill & Melinda Gates, Walton Family</a> and <a href="https://broadfoundation.org/education/">Eli and Edythe Broad foundations</a>, reformers have largely dominated the policy agenda. As a Gates foundation official <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/policy-patrons#:%7E:text=Policy%20Patrons%20makes%20an%20original,future%20direction%20of%20education%20reform">explained</a> to policy scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sQq-KYcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Megan Tompkins-Stange</a> in a 2016 book, “We have this enormous power to sway the public conversations about things like effective teaching or standards and mobilizing lots of resources in their favor without real robust debate.”</p>
<p>A common <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-big-bets-on-educational-reform-havent-fixed-the-us-school-system-92327">line of criticism</a> says that the problem with donor-led education reform efforts is the mixture of grand ambitions with limited knowledge of what really works in education. After decades of this philanthropic trend, the <a href="https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-mathematics-science-reading/">U.S. still ranks well below most of its peer</a> countries in terms of global education benchmarks.</p>
<p>I believe that big donors should also learn from this experiment that the financial ability to address a major social problem doesn’t justify bypassing or overwhelming public debate. Even if such efforts achieve their intended effects, they damage democracy and mistreat fellow citizens. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"72131682475581440"}"></div></p>
<h2>Being a democratically responsible donor</h2>
<p>How can big donors balance ambitions to correct injustice with the constraints on power that democracy requires?</p>
<p>One option is for donors to embrace the aim of political change but avoid dominating the agenda.</p>
<p>They can support nonpartisan <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Defilippis-2/publication/279250525_Community_organizing_in_the_United_States/links/563cbaab08aec6f17dd7c359/Community-organizing-in-the-United-States.pdf">community organizing</a>, which helps disconnected individuals identify and collaborate on shared challenges. Progress on systemic problems, including strides toward protecting civil rights, workers’ rights and the <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1050.html">outlawing of redlining</a>, all began with community organizing.</p>
<p>A second option is to single out advocacy campaigns that counterbalance powerful special interests that have already skewed the debate.</p>
<p>For instance, donations supporting advocacy that leads to restrictions on tobacco marketing might be justified to counteract the <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/10/2/124">lobbying efforts of tobacco corporations</a>. Likewise, donations that support environmental activism could reduce the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53640382">influence of oil, gas and coal companies</a> on climate change policies. </p>
<h2>Rosenwald’s example</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Early 20th-century businessman Julius Rosenwald" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438087/original/file-20211216-23-5k53k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Julius Rosenwald helped expand educational opportunities for Black children through his philanthropy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-julius-rosenwald-signed-by-rosenwald-on-news-photo/529305993">Chicago History Museum/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>A third option is to invest in <a href="https://www.ncfp.org/2021/01/15/philanthropy-as-democracy-enhancement-big-philanthropys-role-as-discovery-for-social-problem-solving/">temporary policy experiments</a> that can be authentically adopted and controlled by democratic governments.</p>
<p>It’s perhaps best exemplified by the partnership between U.S. businessman and philanthropist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Rosenwald">Julius Rosenwald</a> and prominent Black educator and leader <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/booker-t-washington">Booker T. Washington</a> to seed-fund the construction of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-rosenwald-schools-progressive-era-philanthropy-in-the-segregated-south-teaching-with-historic-places.htm">5,000 schoolhouses in the 1910s and 1920s</a></p>
<p>“<a href="https://forum.savingplaces.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=693200ab-b3c9-7ee9-f177-6ed15bcd491b">Rosenwald schools</a>” are credited with dramatic improvements in <a href="https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/working-papers/2009/wp-26">educational gains</a> for Black children in the segregated Jim Crow South.</p>
<p>Local communities had to contribute funds and pledge to incorporate the schools into their own public school district. This funding model helped to ease worries about excessive donor influence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A restored small school building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438091/original/file-20211216-27-tbz4es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Ridgeley Rosenwald School, in Capitol Heights, Maryland, has operated as a museum since 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-exterview-of-the-ridgeley-rosenwald-school-is-seen-news-photo/486061688">Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>It probably also helped that Rosenwald made his heirs <a href="http://amistadresearchcenter.tulane.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=154">spend down the Julius Rosenwald Fund, his foundation</a>, after his death in 1932. Unlike the automotive entrepreneur and philanthropist <a href="https://www.henryford.com/about/culture/history/giving">Henry Ford</a> and other major donors, Rosenwald went out of his way to make sure his power wasn’t perpetual.</p>
<p>Surely, these examples aren’t the only possibilities. And each one comes with its own limitations. But in my view, further attention to the conflict between justice and democracy in philanthropic giving may uncover new and better ways of overcoming it.</p>
<p><em>The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding for The Conversation U.S. and provides funding for The Conversation internationally.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Lechterman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Big donors need to balance their ambitions to address injustices with the constraints on power that democracy requires.Ted Lechterman, Research Fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1606872021-07-12T12:26:16Z2021-07-12T12:26:16ZMindfulness meditation can make some Americans more selfish and less generous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410004/original/file-20210706-19-1hvxwhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=840%2C9%2C5518%2C3698&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The meditation market is expected to grow to over $2 billion by 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-mudra-hand-of-threee-asian-men-and-woman-royalty-free-image/1323205967?adppopup=true">MR-MENG/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/may/24/holiday-travel-food">When Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata travels</a>, he brings water with him from Japan. He says this is the only way to make truly <a href="https://gurunavi.com/en/japanfoodie/2016/07/dashi.html">authentic dashi</a>, the flavorful broth essential to Japanese cuisine. <a href="https://matcha-jp.com/en/1410">There’s science to back him up</a>: water in Japan is notably softer – which means it has fewer dissolved minerals – than in many other parts of the world. So when Americas enjoy Japanese food, they arguably aren’t getting quite the real thing. </p>
<p>This phenomenon isn’t limited to food. Taking something out of its geographic or cultural context often changes the thing itself.</p>
<p>Take the word “namaste.” In modern Hindi, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/01/17/406246770/how-namaste-flew-away-from-us">it’s simply a respectful greeting</a>, the equivalent of a formal “hello” appropriate for addressing one’s elders. But in the U.S., its associations with yoga <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/07/26/425968146/whats-in-a-namaste-depends-if-you-live-in-india-or-the-u-s">have led many people to believe</a> that it’s an inherently spiritual word.</p>
<p>Another cultural tradition that has changed across time and place is the <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition">practice of mindfulness</a>. Mindfulness is a nonjudgmental expansive awareness of one’s experiences, often cultivated through meditation.</p>
<p>A range of studies have found mindfulness to be beneficial for the people who practice it in a number of ways. </p>
<p>However, very little research has examined its effects on societies, workplaces and communities. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ftz-s0sAAAAJ&hl=en">As a social psychologist at the University at Buffalo</a>, I wondered if the growing enthusiasm for mindfulness might be overlooking something important: the way practicing it might affect others.</p>
<h2>A booming market</h2>
<p>In just the past few years, the mindfulness industry has exploded in the U.S. <a href="https://blog.marketresearch.com/1.2-billion-u.s.-meditation-market-growing-strongly-as-it-becomes-more-mainstream">Current estimates put the U.S. meditation market</a> – which includes meditation classes, studios, and apps – at approximately US$1.2 billion. It’s expected to grow to over $2 billion by 2022.</p>
<p><a href="https://dukepersonalizedhealth.org/2015/05/the-applications-of-mindfulness-in-health-care/">Hospitals</a>, <a href="https://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-in-education/">schools</a> and even <a href="https://www.mindfulnessstrategies.com/blog/2018/9/28/how-mindfulness-is-changing-prisons-rehabilitating-the-prison-rehabilitation-system">prisons</a> are teaching and promoting mindfulness, <a href="https://blog.marketresearch.com/1.2-billion-u.s.-meditation-market-growing-strongly-as-it-becomes-more-mainstream">while over 1 in 5 employers</a> currently offer mindfulness training.</p>
<p>The enthusiasm for mindfulness makes sense: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.01.006">Research shows mindfulness can</a> reduce stress, increase self-esteem and decrease symptoms of mental illness.</p>
<p>Given these findings, it’s easy to assume that mindfulness has few, if any, downsides. The employers and educators who promote it certainly seem to think so. Perhaps they hope that mindfulness won’t just make people feel better, but that it will also make them be better. That is, maybe mindfulness can make people more generous, cooperative or helpful – all traits that tend to be desirable in employees or students. </p>
<h2>Mindfulness migrates</h2>
<p>But in reality, there’s good reason to doubt that mindfulness, as practiced in the U.S., would automatically lead to good outcomes.</p>
<p>In fact, it may do the opposite. </p>
<p>That’s because it’s been taken out of its context. <a href="https://theconversation.com/meditation-apps-might-calm-you-but-miss-the-point-of-buddhist-mindfulness-124859">Mindfulness developed as a part of Buddhism</a>, where it’s intimately tied up with Buddhist spiritual teachings and morality. Mindfulness in the U.S., on the other hand, is often taught and practiced in purely secular terms. It’s frequently offered simply as a tool for focusing attention and improving well-being, a conception of mindfulness some critics have referred to as “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/600158/mcmindfulness-by-ronald-purser/">McMindfulness</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A vintage photograph of a Buddhist priest in repose." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410005/original/file-20210706-23-6oy1py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In Asian cultures, mindfulness is deeply intertwined with Buddhism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/buddhist-priest-1904-a-print-from-japan-its-history-arts-news-photo/463974715?adppopup=true">The Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Not only that, mindfulness and Buddhism developed in Asian cultures in which the typical way in which people think about themselves differs from that in the U.S. Specifically, Americans tend to think of themselves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224">most often in independent terms</a> with “I” as their focus: “what I want,” “who I am.” By contrast, people in Asian cultures <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224">more often think of themselves in interdependent terms</a> with “we” as their focus: “what we want,” “who we are.”</p>
<p>Cultural differences in how people think about themselves are subtle and easy to overlook – sort of like different kinds of water. But just as those different kinds of water can change flavors when you cook, I wondered if different ways of thinking about the self might alter the effects of mindfulness. </p>
<p>For interdependent-minded people, what if mindful attention to their own experiences might naturally include thinking about other people – and make them more helpful or generous? And if this were the case, would it then be true that, for independent-minded people, mindful attention would spur them to focus more on their individual goals and desires, and therefore cause them to become more selfish?</p>
<h2>Testing the social effects</h2>
<p>I floated these questions to my colleague at the University at Buffalo, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KExjzigAAAAJ&hl=en">Shira Gabriel</a>, because <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/psychology/faculty/faculty-directory/gabriel.html">she’s a recognized expert</a> on independent versus interdependent ways of thinking about the self.</p>
<p>She agreed that this was an interesting question, so we worked with our students Lauren Ministero, Carrie Morrison and Esha Naidu to conduct a study in which we had 366 college students come into the lab – this was before the COVID-19 pandemic – and either engage in a brief mindfulness meditation or a control exercise that actually involved <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550610396585">mind wandering</a>. We also measured the extent to which people thought of themselves in independent or interdependent terms. (It’s important to note that, although cultural differences in thinking about the self are real, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.71.1.83">there is variability in this characteristic even within cultures</a>.)</p>
<p>At the end of the study, we asked people if they could help solicit donations for a charity by stuffing envelopes to send to potential donors.</p>
<p><a href="https://psyarxiv.com/xhyua">The results</a> – which have been accepted for publication in the journal Psychological Science – detail how, among relatively interdependent-minded individuals, the brief mindfulness meditation caused them to become more generous. Specifically, briefly engaging in a mindfulness exercise – as opposed to mind wandering – appeared to increase how many envelopes interdependent-minded people stuffed by 17%. However, among relatively independent-minded individuals, mindfulness appeared to make them less generous with their time. This group of participants stuffed 15% fewer envelopes in the mindful condition than in the mind-wandering condition. </p>
<p>In other words, the effects of mindfulness can be different for people depending on the way they think about themselves. This figurative “water” can really change the recipe of mindfulness.</p>
<p>Of course, water can be filtered, and likewise, how people think about themselves is fluid: We’re all capable of thinking about ourselves in both independent and interdependent ways at different times. </p>
<p>In fact, there’s a relatively simple way to get people to shift their thinking about themselves. As the researchers Marilynn Brewer and Wendi Gardner <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-01782-006">discovered</a>, all you have to do is have them read a passage that is altered to have either a lot of “I” and “me” statements or a lot of “we” and “us” statements, and ask people to identify all of the pronouns. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.311">Past research shows</a> that this simple task reliably shifts people to think of themselves in more independent versus interdependent terms. </p>
<p>Our research team wanted to see if this simple effect could also shift the effects of mindfulness on social behavior. </p>
<p>With this in mind, <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/xhyua">we conducted one more study</a>. This time, it was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we used the same exercises. </p>
<p>First, however, we had people complete the pronoun task mentioned above. Afterwards, we asked people if they would volunteer to contact potential donors to a charity.</p>
<p>Our results were striking: Engaging in a brief mindfulness exercise made people who identified “I/me” words 33% less likely to volunteer, but it made those who identified “we/us” words 40% more likely to volunteer. In other words, just shifting how people thought of themselves in the moment – filtering the water of self-related thoughts, if you will – altered the effects of mindfulness on the behavior of many of the people who took part in this study. </p>
<h2>Attention as a tool</h2>
<p>The take-home message? Mindfulness could lead to good social outcomes or bad ones, depending on context. </p>
<p>In fact, the Buddhist monk <a href="https://www.matthieuricard.org/en/blog/posts/a-sniper-s-mindfulness">Matthieu Ricard said as much when he wrote</a> that even a sniper embodies a type of mindfulness. “Bare attention,” he added, “as consummate as it might be, is no more than a tool.” Yes, it can cause a great deal of good. But it can also “cause immense suffering.” </p>
<p>If practitioners strive to use mindfulness to reduce suffering, rather than increase it, it’s important to ensure that people are also mindful of themselves as existing in relation with others.</p>
<p>This “water” may be the key ingredient for bringing out the full flavor of mindfulness.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Poulin receives funding from the National Science Foundation. He is affiliated with the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. </span></em></p>It’s easy to assume that the practice has few, if any, downsides. But a new study explored some of its social repercussions.Michael J. Poulin, Associate Professor of Psychology, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1603112021-05-05T14:26:29Z2021-05-05T14:26:29ZAdults are more generous in the presence of children – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398941/original/file-20210505-19-sc7qnw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=413%2C405%2C4893%2C3126&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even non-parents were found to be more prosocial if youngsters were present.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-walking-on-street-silhouettes-191237630">vetre/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us assume that we tend to be kinder towards children than we are to adults. Past research confirms this assumption, showing that we’re <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01603.x">more caring</a> towards children, and that this effect even extends to being more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023962425692">helpful</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-008-9101-5">empathic</a> towards baby-faced adults. </p>
<p>But no work has been done to examine whether the mere presence of children encourages us to be compassionate and helpful in general – influencing us to be kinder towards other adults, or more giving to charities.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506211007605">recent research</a> set out to understand whether we’re motivated to be more <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/prosocial-behavior">prosocial</a> – defined as behaving in a way that’s intended to benefit others – when we’re either around children, or thinking about them.</p>
<p>Across eight experiments featuring more than 2,000 participants, and a large field study, we found adults to be more generous and compassionate when children were present – suggesting initiatives such as the “<a href="https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/">Children’s Parliament</a>”, which aim to introduce children into what are traditionally adult spaces, could have a profound influence on adult decision-making across society.</p>
<h2>Emotions and children</h2>
<p>We know that children elicit strong emotions in us, especially when they come to harm. For example, few images have sparked such an international outcry of sympathy as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34133210">the photo of a dead boy</a>, Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a Turkish beach during the 2015 Syrian migration crisis. </p>
<p>In fact, research has found that sympathy with Kurdi’s fate generated concern and solidarity with refugees more widely, as evidenced by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617741107">greater social media engagement</a>, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613977114">100-fold increase</a> in the number of donations made to aid Syrian refugees, and announcements of new governmental policies to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/02/syrias-refugee-crisis-in-numbers/">resettle more than 150,000 refugees</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-one-terrible-image-change-the-direction-of-a-humanitarian-crisis-47067">Can one terrible image change the direction of a humanitarian crisis?</a>
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<p>In some ways, the power of this single image is not surprising. Organisations that lobby for the poor and vulnerable have long suspected that they can enhance interest and support by putting children front and centre of their campaigns. For instance, children have been featured in campaigns for <a href="https://donatetoafrica.org/">charity donations</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDthR9RH0gw">environmental protection</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYhbBidlcMI">healthy living</a>. These campaigns reveal a widespread assumption that children elicit sympathetic reactions in adults.</p>
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<h2>Increasing sympathy</h2>
<p>In our experiments, we wanted to find out whether the emotional effect inspired by children extends beyond our feelings for the young and into the wider world. To encourage adult participants to think about children, we asked them to describe what typical children are like (for example, their appearance and typical behaviour). Participants in control conditions described typical adults or skipped this task. </p>
<p>Those participants we asked to describe children later reported higher prosocial motivation. That is, they reported a greater willingness to attain broad prosocial goals such as helping others, social justice, and protecting the environment. Participants also reported greater empathy with the plight of other adults after they had thought about children.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gut-check-researchers-develop-measures-to-capture-moral-judgments-and-empathy-73249">Gut check: Researchers develop measures to capture moral judgments and empathy</a>
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<p>In a subsequent field study that built on these findings, we found that adults on a shopping street were more likely to donate to a charity supporting research on bone marrow disease when more children were nearby relative to adults. </p>
<p>When no children were present and all passers-by were adults, we observed roughly one donation every ten minutes. But when children and adults were equally present on the shopping street, that figure doubled to two donations every ten minutes. </p>
<p>These effects could not be accounted for by higher footfall during busy times or whether donors were accompanied by a child or not. Instead, they suggest that the presence of children can nudge adults to donate more often, even when the charity is not specifically linked to children.</p>
<p>Across our studies, thinking about children or being in the presence of children elicited greater compassion with others in a range of people: parents and non-parents, men and women, younger and older participants – even among those who had relatively negative attitudes towards children. So the findings point to a pervasive effect with deep and wide-ranging implications for society.</p>
<h2>Adult-only environments</h2>
<p>Our research provides a glimpse of a much bigger picture. Children are often separated from adult environments, such as workplaces and political bodies, where important decisions are made that affect children’s lives – for instance, around climate change. </p>
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<img alt="Three children dressed as if they're workers in an office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398921/original/file-20210505-23-rq7jyt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The presence of children in traditional adult spaces could be beneficial for those of all ages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/children-communication-devices-business-clothing-center-152976992">Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Our findings suggest that society needs to consider more ways to involve children in various aspects of life. For example, explicitly considering impacts on children in political and legislative bodies may promote decisions that appropriately take the needs and rights of children and future generations into account. </p>
<p>Some initiatives over recent years have placed increased emphasis on young voices, including the “<a href="https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/">Children’s Parliament</a>” in the UK and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/19/school-climate-strikes-more-than-1-million-took-part-say-campaigners-greta-thunberg">global school climate strikes</a> in 2019, in which 1.4 million children took part. Our research suggests that such initiatives do not only provide an obvious and important benefit for children – they also elicit a prosocial orientation in wider society that could benefit everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lukas J. Wolf has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Haddock has received funding from the ESRC and the Leverhulme Trust. He is currently a member of the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Maio receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK). </span></em></p>The findings suggest adults feel more prosocial with children around – even if they don’t have any themselves.Lukas J. Wolf, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Psychology, University of BathGeoff Haddock, Professor of Social Psychology, Cardiff UniversityGregory R. Maio, Professor of Psychology, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1579272021-04-27T15:54:07Z2021-04-27T15:54:07ZWomen’s philanthropy: an invisible phenomenon<p>MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, has been praised recently for her great generosity – the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/mackenzie-scott-philanthropy.html"><em>New York Times</em></a> cited more than US$6 billion (£4.3 billion) in charitable donations.</p>
<p>Yet, as <a href="https://twitter.com/robreich/status/1341117076178493440">Rob Reich</a>, a professor of political science at Stanford University and an expert on philanthropy, pointed out on Twitter, while Scott’s donations in 2020 were 15 times greater than those of the largest US foundations (the Ford Foundation distributed US$350 million in 2020), we know little about her philanthropy. Paradoxically, women’s philanthropy has long been invisible, even though it dates back centuries and has always been important. </p>
<h2>A lack of research</h2>
<p>There is a lack of research on the topic, but historians show that women of power already provided <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-moyen-age-2011-3.htm">patronage in the middle ages</a> and the Renaissance (think Isabeau de Bavière, Catherine de Médicis and others). In the 17th and 18th centuries, nuns (or <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/clio/10647">“daughters of charity”</a>) offered help where needed, and women philanthropists were operating in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927531?refreqid=excelsior%3A188e6e41ce9ed904f1d24a072417f1fe&seq=1">philanthropic roles</a> have allowed women to operate in the public sphere, even at times when they were largely confined to private life and excluded from <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/rf/2011-v24-n2-rf5005937/1007763ar/">political arenas</a>.</p>
<p>Some research emphasises the emancipatory power of these activities, particularly at a time when the development of <a href="https://www.cairn.info/journal-travail-genre-et-societes-2009-2-page-135.htm">reform philanthropy</a> was concomitant with that of the feminist movements. Others, however, consider philanthropy, which is marked by paternalism, to be a <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=29306">hindrance</a> to the emancipation of women.</p>
<p>There is also a lack of contemporary research, although the <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/index.html">Women’s Philanthropy Institute</a> at Indiana University and the <a href="https://philab.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bulletin-3-Les-femmes-et-la-philanthropie.pdf">PhiLab</a> at the University of Montreal are changing that.</p>
<h2>Structurally invisible</h2>
<p>Even the way we think about women’s philanthropy contributes to its lack of visibility. We <a href="https://wnywomensfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/08/6.-How-and-Why-Women-Give.pdf">compare the way women give to the way men give</a> rather than analysing their activities in their own right. We know, for example, that “women give time, men give money”. Women give to a wider variety of organisations, whereas men’s philanthropy is more concentrated, and women tend to be more involved in collective forms of giving, such as giving circles, than men. </p>
<p>These patterns tend to make us believe that women’s generosity is homogeneous. It hides the diversity of situations, essentialising the very category of women’s philanthropy. However, numerous studies have confirmed the major role women play in voluntary activities – <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-travail-genre-et-societes-2018-2-page-169.htm">free and invisible work</a>.</p>
<p>Women’s philanthropy is also hidden by the fact that the philanthropic field is, like wider society, strongly structured around couples. In the top 50 donors for 2018, there are 22 couples, 27 single men, one family and zero single women. A large number of foundations are set up by couples but it is often the man who is in the spotlight, especially in the media – one thinks of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.</p>
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<img alt="Abby Aldrich Rockefeller" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abby Aldrich Rockefeller had different priorities to her husband.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Aldrich_Rockefeller#/media/File:Abby_Rockefeller_LCCN2014718060.tif">Wikipedia/US Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor do we often know how spouses divide up their roles. Sometimes decisions will be made jointly but also separately, like <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=xx9SRF1azEIC&pg=PA212&lpg=PA212&dq=kathleen+mccarthy+abby+rockefeller+cloisters+husband">Abby Aldrich Rockefeller</a>, who created MoMA, while her husband, who “hated modern art”, preferred to invest in the Cloisters, the Met’s medieval collection. This makes it difficult to analyse women’s philanthropy.</p>
<p>Moreover, for a long time, women’s philanthropy was heavily dependent on men’s wealth, as women could not earn or spend their <a href="https://www.scienceshumaines.com/chronologie-les-droits-des-femmes-en-france_fr_14412.html">own money</a> without a man’s permission. While women’s work contributes to the production and reproduction of family wealth, capital in the 21st century remains <a href="https://www.editionsladecouverte.fr/le_genre_du_capital-9782348044380">resolutely male</a>.</p>
<p>Philanthropy is dependent on this state of affairs. Some great philanthropists are part of this tradition, such as Liliane Bettencourt a few years ago (heir to the fortune of her father Eugène Schueller, founder of L'Oréal), Laurene Powell Jobs (heir to her husband Steve Jobs, founder of Apple), Alice Walton (fortune inherited from her father, founder of Walmart supermarkets). But today there are more and more women who have built their own fortunes through their work. They are developing their own philanthropy, regardless of their marital status – for example Sheryl Sandberg (chief operating officer of Facebook), Oprah Winfrey (presenter and producer) or Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx).</p>
<h2>An opportunity for the philanthropic sector?</h2>
<p>Today, women’s philanthropy is gaining visibility and offering a transformative opportunity for the sector.</p>
<p>By shifting towards philanthropy that centres around providing financial support and is independent of men, women are more free to take up their own causes. That sometimes means using philanthropy to address the consequences of gender dominance, such as the fact that women have less access to health or education. It sometimes take a more political avenue, working upstream and using “feminist philanthropy” to support efforts to defend women’s rights. </p>
<p>This is all the more important because it’s a relatively little-supported cause in general. In 2017, only 7% of French foundations <a href="https://www.fondationdefrance.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/etude_fondations_et_fonds_de_dotation.pdf">described themselves</a> as acting to support women and girls, and in the United States only 1.6% of total donations go to <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/24545/wgi20-report.pdf">this cause</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, women’s philanthropy is attracting greater media coverage and is being taken more seriously. Networks of women philanthropists are being formed, particularly in the United States, to exchange ideas and support each other. Figures such as <a href="https://histphil.org/2019/10/21/mccarthy-on-the-moment-of-lift-how-empowering-women-changes-the-world-2019/">Melinda Gates</a> are speaking out. Gates operated in her husband’s shadow for a long time but now publicly talks about the work she had to do within their foundation to be heard.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Global Business and Philanthropy Leaders Forum on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. New York, September 2018." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C2048%2C1355&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly: Global Business and Philanthropy Leaders Forum on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. New York, September 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UN Women/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These developments are leading to the emergence of new practical guides for professionals hoping to raise funds <a href="https://store.case.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Store/Product-Details/productId/1103283092">from women</a> – who are a seen as a new “market” to target, especially since women’s fortunes are growing rapidly. In 2019, the ranking of the world’s wealthiest people included a record number of <a href="https://philab.uqam.ca/blogue-accueil/avons-nous-reellement-saisi-le-potentiel-des-femmes-dans-le-secteur-de-la-philanthropie/">244 women</a>.</p>
<p>And by practising philanthropy differently, women are said by some to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/style/mackenzie-scott-prisclila-chan-zuckerberg-melinda-gates-philanthropy.html">transforming the philanthropic sector itself</a>. Scott’s spending is revealing in this sense. She went against the grain of her husband, who was long considered ungenerous – even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/28/jeff-bezos-amazon-rich-charity-warren-buffett">“stingy”</a>. And, unlike the great philanthropists who often give to prestigious institutions, such as their university or a major museum, Scott gave to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/mackenzie-scott-college-donations.html">modest institutions in real need</a>. Crucially, she also made unrestricted gifts – a rare occurrence in the field – allowing recipients to decide how to use the funds.</p>
<p>What emerges is a challenge to traditional elite philanthropy – that of white men over 50, seeking recognition and power, who often focus on their own desires rather than the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0899764007300386">needs of recipients</a>. In line with what <a href="https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/a-mirror-to-our-field-my-five-point-plan-for-the-future-of-philanthropy/">some professionals</a> are calling for, the new women’s philanthropy marks a real paradigm shift, questioning power relations and making it more committed to social justice.</p>
<h2>The gender lens</h2>
<p>The emergence of a new generation of high-profile women philanthropists is not only helping us understand the power relations that are specific to philanthropy, as well as the way women’s work is made invisible, but also showing, in the way women philanthropists spend, that the emancipation and affirmation of women contributes to building a more just and egalitarian society.</p>
<p>Viewing philanthropy through a gender lens also means thinking about philanthropy beyond that of the great billionaires. It is to take an interest in those who contribute, often in the shadows, to helping others in different ways, to give a voice to these invisible people in philanthropy – invisible donors, professionals but also recipients – to change our perspective to see philanthropy in its diversity and complexity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Monier ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Women’s philanthropy, which has always been very important, has remained invisible for a long time. There are many reasons for this paradox.Anne Monier, Docteure en sciences sociales, Chercheuse à la Chaire Philanthropie de l'ESSEC, spécialiste de la philanthropie, de la sociologie du transnational, des politiques culturelles, ESSEC Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1391612020-06-05T12:07:31Z2020-06-05T12:07:31ZA window into the hearts and minds of billionaire donors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339303/original/file-20200602-133892-dinwhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4702%2C3462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spanx founder Sara Blakely has signed the Giving Pledge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/spanx-founder-sara-blakely-speaks-onstage-during-the-news-photo/628598100">Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Massachusetts Conference for Women</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/05/new-household-pulse-survey-shows-concern-over-food-security-loss-of-income.html">COVID-19 pandemic’s economic toll</a> increases, many billionaires and their <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-to-charitable-giving-when-the-economy-falters-133903">foundations</a> are making very public efforts <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleycuccinello/2020/04/15/jack-dorsey-bill-gates-and-at-least-75-other-billionaires-donating-to-pandemic-relief/#43324da21bd3">to pitch in</a>.</p>
<p>This push to give money to support everything from <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/4/2/21206205/jeff-bezos-100-million-charity-food-banks-feeding-america">food banks</a> to <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/operation-warp-speed-selects-billionaire-scientist-s-covid-19-vaccine-monkey-tests">vaccine research</a> comes a decade after the <a href="https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx">Giving Pledge</a>, a voluntary effort to give away at least half of an immense fortune during the signatory’s lifetime, first launched. </p>
<p>When signatories join the Giving Pledge, they can voluntarily submit a letter explaining their commitment to philanthropy that’s posted on the internet. Together with my colleagues and fellow philanthropy scholars <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenamccollim/">Elena McCollim</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ognhAnMAAAAJ&hl=en">George E. Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HbBzLFAAAAAJ">I analyzed</a> these letters to better understand how billionaires make sense of their generosity.</p>
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<h2>10 years old</h2>
<p>Following the Great Recession, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates teamed up with investor Warren Buffett and a few of their wealthy friends to hatch this plan to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/warren-buffett-gateses-200-plus-billionaires-10-years-later-giving-pledge-success-1500497">increase giving among billionaires</a>.</p>
<p>By March 2020, 120 couples, 78 single men and 11 single women had signed on. The members of the Giving Pledge represent <a href="https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/">about 10% of the more than 2,000 known billionaires</a> in the world. To be eligible to join, an individual or a couple must have a <a href="https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx">combined net worth of US$1 billion</a>, including assets they already donated.</p>
<p>Five of the 10 richest men in the United States have joined the Giving Pledge. Besides Gates and Buffett, that includes Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and the entrepreneur and politician Michael Bloomberg. Taken together, the current <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#47e6bc783d78">combined wealth of those five fortunes</a> adds up to about $385 billion. The total wealth of everyone who signed the pledge in its first decade was at least an estimated $1.14 trillion as of the end of 2019, according to Forbes Magazine.</p>
<h2>Insight into how the wealthy explain their giving</h2>
<p>The letters are typically fairly short and addressed to Buffett or Gates. Many describe why the donors engage in philanthropy and identify a few favorite causes. We found that 187 of the 209 signatories have submitted them. </p>
<p>You cannot assume that the letters contain the true motives for making this pledge, but these missives do open a window into why these billionaires believe they should give away so much of their wealth. None referred to a desire to become more famous, for example, or openly acknowledged any sense of guilt. Yet those feelings might contribute to the personal motivation these rich people have to join the Giving Pledge.</p>
<p>In reviewing the letters, we found 10 distinct explanations for giving. The top five appeared in at least 20% of the letters, while the remaining five were in 10% or fewer. </p>
<p>A desire to be seen as grateful and altruistic dominated many of these accounts, with more than a third describing a drive to make a difference. </p>
<p>“Helping disadvantaged groups live decent lives in the process of creating wealth has been my personal credo,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=333">Dong Fangjun</a>, a Chinese investor who now funds efforts to <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a20720193/china-philanthropists-climate-change/">clean up China’s polluted countryside</a>. </p>
<p>The second most common reason was a desire to give back.</p>
<p>“I have so much gratitude for being a woman in America,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=169">Sara Blakely</a>, the founder of the Spanx undergarment company and a supporter of several <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/05/smallbusiness/sara-blakely-spanx/index.html">women’s causes</a>. “I never lose sight that I was born in the right country, at the right time.”</p>
<p>The letters also highlighted the joy of giving.</p>
<p>“I get tremendous pleasure from helping others,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=157">Bill Ackman</a>, an investor and hedge fund manager who funds a wide range of arts, social justice and other kinds of nonprofits. “It’s what makes my life worth living.”</p>
<p>The life lessons taught by parents were another common reason these major donors say they became interested in giving.</p>
<p>“From as far back as I can remember, my parents taught me the importance of giving back, whether we had a little or a lot,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=239">Jim Pattison</a>, a Canadian businessman who supports a wide range of nonprofits, including <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/years-of-stewardship-needed-to-land-donations-like-jim-pattison-s-75m-for-st-paul-s-hospital-1.4044891">hospitals</a>.</p>
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<h2>‘Noblesse oblige’ and other less common motives</h2>
<p>Many of the letters conveyed a sense of “<a href="https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/noblesse-oblige">noblesse oblige</a>,” a French term for the idea that being wealthy creates a duty to give.</p>
<p>“I strongly believe that those of us, who are privileged to have wealth, should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=269">Azim Premji</a>, a tech industry leader who has become <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47566542">India’s biggest philanthropist</a>.</p>
<p>Among the five least common explanations our team identified were references to principles of justice, concerns about the downside of immense inheritances, having no other use for vast wealth, religious beliefs and a sense that luck played a big role in becoming rich.</p>
<p>Some of the younger donors described themselves as being only stewards of their wealth. In this view, principles of justice and equality demand that the wealthy share generously.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=385">Jeff Lawson</a>, a co-founder of LinkedIn, and his wife Erica Lawson included a quote by Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the <a href="https://eji.org/">Equal Justice Initiative</a>: “The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.” </p>
<p>About a tenth of the letters cited concerns over the possible harm a large inheritance could do to their own kids and grandchildren.</p>
<p>“We all know second- and third-generation wealth where the recipients were actually born on third base but think and act like they hit a triple,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=219">John W. “Jay” Jordan II</a>, an American investor with three children and two stepchildren and one of the biggest donors ever to the <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/jordans-giving-to-notre-dame-is-unprecedented-75-million-is-largest-single-gift-bringing-total-to-150-million/">University of Notre Dame</a>, his alma mater. </p>
<p>Some pledgers said they see nothing better to do with their excessive wealth. The late real estate investors <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=279">Herb and Marion Sandler</a>, whose fortune launched the investigative news outlet <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/herb-sandler-the-man-who-made-propublica-possible">Pro Publica</a>, put it this way: “How many residences, automobiles, airplanes and other luxury items can one acquire and use?”</p>
<p>Religion and spirituality play a surprisingly minor role, with some exceptions.</p>
<p>“We were both raised in the Church, and a key theme of the Bible is the importance, the necessity, of giving,” explained <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=375">Paul Tudor Jones</a>, a hedge fund manager, and his wife Sonia Jones. The couple has made <a href="http://www.philanthropic-giving.com/profiles/paul-tudor-jones/">education</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/billionaire-paul-tudor-jones-is-worried-about-the-wealth-gap-here-is-why.html">inequality</a> high priorities in their giving.</p>
<p>Finally, a few of these big donors attributed their eagerness to give away much of their money to being aware of their good fortune. “To be repeatedly in the right place at the right time, that is the mother of all luck,” wrote <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=216">Mo Ibrahim</a>, the Sudanese telecommunications entrepreneur who invests in <a href="https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/about-us">improving African leadership and governance</a>.</p>
<h2>Out to change the world</h2>
<p>But what sets these donors truly apart from the rest of us is what we philanthropy scholars call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pf.95">hyperagency</a>” – the desire to singlehandedly change the world in accordance with their ideas and dreams.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=293">Patrick Soon-Shiong</a>, the <a href="https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/dr-patrick-soon-shiong-solving-covid-19-no-different-cancer">surgeon and entrepreneur</a> who owns the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Lakers, and his wife Michele B. Chan, made an ambitious statement in their letter: “Our passion, our mission is to transform health and health care, in America and beyond.”</p>
<p>In other words, Giving Pledge letters harbor contradictions with their messages about both ambition and humility. Many of the wealthy people who embraced this campaign have seen themselves as uniquely capable of changing the world. At the same time, they would like others to see them as modest, grateful and selfless.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339304/original/file-20200602-133875-ne8ypy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patrick Soon-Shiong, a surgeon, businessman, media mogul and bioscientist, chairs three big nonprofits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/patrick-soon-shiong-president-of-nantworks-poses-during-the-news-photo/1028445566">Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hans Peter Schmitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A careful review of more than 200 letters written by the wealthy people who signed the Giving Pledge over its first decade suggests a big contradiction.Hans Peter Schmitz, Associate Professor, University of San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1304432020-04-14T12:20:10Z2020-04-14T12:20:10ZDo people become more selfless as they age?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325160/original/file-20200403-99349-nc1s8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C314%2C2887%2C1598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The main characters of 'The Good Place' become better over time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/arcy-carden-kristen-bell-manny-jacinto-william-jackson-news-photo/695422150"> Michael Tran/FilmMagic via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Looking for something to binge-watch while you’re hunkering down at home?</p>
<p>Consider checking out the popular TV show “<a href="https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place">The Good Place</a>.” Over four recently concluded seasons, the series follows the adventures and mishaps of four utterly self-centered characters on their quest to become decent and selfless human beings. </p>
<p>The deeper question this <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/26/20874217/the-good-place-series-finale-season-4-moral-philosophy">philosophy-laced comedy</a> raises is: Can people be truly selfless?</p>
<p>The technical term for this behavior is <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/altruism/definition">altruism</a> – the willingness to help others, even at a cost to your own well-being. And if the answer to that question is yes, then are those of us who are selfish able to transform ourselves into kind and selfless individuals? </p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=hC6IzXMAAAAJ&hl=en">psychologist who uses brain science</a> to understand how people make decisions. With my team at the University of Oregon, I am investigating why many of us <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.1140738">behave altruistically</a>, whether human beings become <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xge0000209">more altruistic with age</a> and even whether it’s possible to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00599">learn how to be altruistic</a>.</p>
<h2>Stumped philosophers</h2>
<p>Whether people do altruistic deeds because of their altruistic nature or out of ulterior motives is a question that has <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300189490/does-altruism-exist">stumped philosophers, religious thinkers and social scientists</a> for centuries, because selfishness can inspire <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2234133?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">seemingly altruistic acts</a>.</p>
<p>For example, people may give away money to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2118317">show off their wealth</a>, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.11.005">appear trustworthy</a> or simply to feel <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2234133">good about themselves</a>.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XuOFf0oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Pamela Hieronymi</a>, a University of California, Los Angeles philosopher who informally served as a consultant for the hit TV show, has expressed serious skepticism about <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/64883521">whether anyone can turn from selfish to selfless</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lDnO4nDA3kM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Moral philosophy professor Chidi Anagonye, played by William Jackson Harper, teaches viewers and fellow characters like Eleanor Shellstrop, played by Kristen Bell, about human nature on ‘The Good Place.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Brain patterns</h2>
<p>How do scholars like me study what goes on in people’s brains?</p>
<p>My team had participants in a series of experiments lie in <a href="https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri">MRI scanners</a>, looking at a screen that described different scenarios. Sometimes my colleagues and I told them that US$20 was being transferred to their bank accounts. At other times, the same amount would go to a charity, such as a local food pantry. Participants simply observed these $20 transfers, either to themselves or to the charity, without having any say in the matter. </p>
<p>All the while, we scanned what neuroscientists consider the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-16-j0002.2001">brain’s reward centers</a>, specifically the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/nucleus-accumbens">nucleus accumbens</a>.</p>
<p>This region, which is a little bigger than a peanut, plays a role in everything from sexual gratification to drug addiction and related neural sites. It becomes active when something happens that makes you happy and that you would like to see repeated in the future. </p>
<p>The experience of money going to the charity boosted activity in those reward areas of the brain for many of our participants. And exactly this observation, we argue, is a manifestation of people’s true altruistic nature: They felt rewarded when someone in need becomes better off, even if they didn’t directly do anything to make a difference.</p>
<p>We found that in about half of our study participants, activity in these reward areas was even stronger when the money went to the charity than when it landed in their own bank accounts. We determined that these people could be neurally defined as altruists.</p>
<p>Then, in a separate stage of the experiment, all of these same participants had the choice to either give some of their money away or to keep it for themselves. Here, the neural altruists were about twice as likely as the others to give their money away.</p>
<p>We believe that this finding indicates that purely altruistic motives can drive generous behavior – and that brain imaging can detect those motives. </p>
<h2>Aging and altruism</h2>
<p>In a related study my colleagues and I conducted, there were 80 participants who were between 20 and 64 years old, but otherwise were comparable in terms of their backgrounds. We found that the proportion of altruists – that is, those whose reward areas were more active when money went to the charity than to themselves – steadily increased with age, going from less than 25% through age 35 to around 75% among individuals 55 and older.</p>
<p>Also, older participants tended to become more willing to give their money to charity or to volunteer in this experiment. And when assessing their personality characteristics through questionnaires, our group found that they exhibited traits such as agreeableness and empathy more strongly than younger participants.</p>
<p>These observations align with growing evidence of more altruistic acts in the elderly. For example, the share of their income that 60-year-olds give to charity is three times as much as for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0714(06)02018-5">25-year-olds</a>. This is significant even though they <a href="https://dqydj.com/the-net-worth-of-different-age-groups-in-america/">tend to have more money</a> in general, making it easier to part with some of it.</p>
<p>People who are 60 and up are about 50% more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/55.2.S98">likely to volunteer</a>. They are also nearly <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-so-few-young-americans-vote-132649">twice as likely to vote</a> as those under 30.</p>
<p>However, our results are the first to clearly demonstrate that older adults do not just act like they are nicer people, which might easily be driven by selfish motives such as making it more likely that they will be remembered fondly once they are gone. Rather, the fact that their reward areas are so much more responsive to experiencing people in need being helped suggests that they are actually, on average, kinder and genuinely more interested in the welfare of others than everyone else. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327509/original/file-20200413-24630-1ivxwe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers monitored the brains of people taking part in a study to see what happened if money was transferred into their own bank accounts or went to charity. Depending on the scenario, different parts of a ‘reward center’ region called the nucleus accumbens became active.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blogs.uoregon.edu/cognitivedynamics/home/">University of Oregon Department of Psychology</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The road ahead</h2>
<p>These findings raise lots of additional, important questions that we cover in an article we published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0963721420910811">Current Directions in Psychological Science</a>, an academic journal. For example, additional research is needed in which people are followed across time to make sure that the age difference in generosity truly reflects personal growth, and not just generational differences. Also, we need to generalize our results to larger samples from more varied backgrounds.</p>
<p>Most importantly, we don’t yet know why older adults appear to be more generous than younger folks. My colleagues and I are planning to look into whether realizing that you have fewer years to live makes you more concerned about the greater good. </p>
<p>For the lead characters in “The Good Place,” the journey toward selflessness is an arduous ordeal. In real life, it may simply be a natural part of growing older.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ulrich Mayr receives funding from the National Institute of Aging, and the National Science Foundation</span></em></p>Brain science suggests that seniors care more about the welfare of others than younger folks do.Ulrich Mayr, Lewis Professor and Department Head of Psychology, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328482020-03-17T12:10:27Z2020-03-17T12:10:27ZNetflix’s ‘Self-Made’ miniseries about Madam C.J. Walker leaves out the mark she made through generosity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320165/original/file-20200312-111268-xur3es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Octavia Spencer, left, stars in this rags-to-riches tale, along with Blair Underwood.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80202462">Amanda Matlovich/Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Netflix series “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80202462">Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker</a>” brings to life part of a fascinating rags-to-riches tale I’ve been researching for the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Walker, widely documented to have been America’s first self-made female millionaire, made her fortune building an <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/affluence-and-community-at-the-madam-c-j-walker-manufacturing-company/">Indianapolis-based beauty products company</a> that served black women across the U.S. and overseas. Today it offers a product line through <a href="https://www.mcjwbeautyculture.com/">Sephora</a>.</p>
<p>Oscar-winner <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t8">Octavia Spencer</a> stars in the miniseries about the African American entrepreneur originally named Sarah Breedlove. Born shortly after emancipation in 1867 on a cotton plantation in Louisiana to a formerly enslaved family, she later adapted the initials and last name of her third husband – played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005516/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t9">Blair Underwood</a> in the series. The show imagines Walker’s struggles and successes in a dramatic reinterpretation of the historical record.</p>
<p>I’ve been studying <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/m0399">Walker’s archival collections</a>
for my upcoming book “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/43qme5pk9780252043451.html">Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow</a>”
and speaking about her to audiences around the country for years. I screened the series with great anticipation of how her lifelong generosity and activism would be portrayed in this account that “Indianapolis Monthly” described as having “<a href="https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/longform/making-waves-the-madam-c-j-walker-netflix-series">fictional characters, invented moments, and a few surreal sequences</a>.”</p>
<p>Her philanthropic legacy didn’t make the cut – aside from a few visual footnotes just before final credits roll. Those footnotes touch on her charitable giving to black colleges, social services and activism with <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/3-organized/naacp.html">the NAACP</a>. </p>
<p>While viewers will enjoy the series, I want them to learn that Walker didn’t just live a life of hard-won opulence. She exemplified black women’s generosity. Her <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/walker">philanthropy and activism</a> imbued every aspect of her daily life. “I am not and never have been ‘close-fisted,’ for all who know me will tell you that I am a liberal hearted woman,” Walker told the audience of the 1913 National Negro League Business meeting sponsored by prominent black leader <a href="https://www.tuskegee.edu/discover-tu/tu-presidents/booker-t-washington">Booker T. Washington</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yYDJvnDfB2w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer stars as Madam C.J. Walker in the Netflix miniseries ‘Self Made.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More than money</h2>
<p>Walker distinguished herself on a philanthropic landscape dominated by white people. Men like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-D-Rockefeller">John D. Rockefeller</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-biography/">Andrew Carnegie</a> turned to large-scale philanthropy after spending their lives accumulating wealth. In contrast, Walker’s giving began in earnest when she was a poor, young, widowed mother struggling in St. Louis. She gave along the way from what she had, rather than waiting.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madam C. J. Walker was the nation’s first self-made female millionaire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/madam-c-j-walker-the-first-female-self-made-millionaire-in-news-photo/74286282">Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She had much in common with other black churchwomen, club women, educators and activists. Like <a href="https://www.nps.gov/mamc/learn/historyculture/mary-mcleod-bethune.htm">Mary McLeod Bethune</a>, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/nannie-helen-burroughs.htm">Nannie Helen Burroughs</a> and <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett">Ida B. Wells-Barnett</a> – and tens of thousands of other working and middle class black women – Walker embodied a versatile generosity that sought to meet communal needs and topple widespread discrimination.</p>
<h2>Treasure</h2>
<p>Walker was a highly prized donor in the black community. Constantly solicited, she gave money to black-serving organizations across the Midwest and the South. </p>
<p>The Netflix miniseries briefly references her gifts to social services. She supported organizations like <a href="https://flannerhouse.org/">Flanner House</a> in Indianapolis, which helped African Americans get jobs, an education and childcare. She made sure that poor families could eat at Christmastime.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=FIkAGs9z2eEC&dat=19150102&printsec=frontpage&hl=en">Indianapolis Freeman</a>,” a black newspaper, reported in 1915 how her company’s office resembled a grocery store due to all the gift baskets that were filled with food. In 1918, she gave US$500 to support the National Association of Colored Women’s campaign to purchase and preserve <a href="https://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm">Cedar Hill</a>, home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, which still stands today in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Walker lacked formal education but she was a lifelong learner who donated thousands of dollars to the <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/2151/rec/6">Tuskegee Institute</a> in Alabama and other black schools. </p>
<p>She also patronized the arts, supporting Indianapolis painters such as <a href="http://thejohnsoncollection.org/william-scott/">William Edouard Scott</a> and <a href="https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19141212-01.1.4&srpos=5&e=------191-en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-Hardrick------">John Wesley Hardrick</a>, whom she wanted to help gain national stature as an artist.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Walker, second from left, and Booker T. Washington (holding his hat) at the opening of a black YMCA in Indianapolis that she supported with her own money and fundraising efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/222/rec/33">Madam C. J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Time and talent</h2>
<p>In addition, Walker belonged to important <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-collectivist-roots-of-madam-c-j-walkers-philanthropy/">networks of women</a> that were advancing the cause of freedom from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lynching-preachers-how-black-pastors-resisted-jim-crow-and-white-pastors-incited-racial-violence-129963">Jim Crow era’s racism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-story-of-two-african-american-women-looking-out-from-the-pages-of-a-19th-century-book-118243">sexism</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrepreneur made her fortune by creating hair care products for African American women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/1940/rec/101">Madam C. J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>She helped the poor through the Mite Missionary Society of St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis. She supported the <a href="http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nacw">National Association of Colored Women</a>, which provided educational and social services to black communities around the country, and advocated for changing public policies.</p>
<h2>Testimony</h2>
<p>Walker also expressed her generosity by using her voice to speak out against the injustices of Jim Crow discrimination and oppression. She drew attention to sick and <a href="https://armyhistory.org/fighting-for-respect-african-american-soldiers-in-wwi/">injured black soldiers</a> during World War I by visiting and entertaining them at military camps in the Midwest. To black and white audiences, she spoke out publicly about black soldiers’ patriotic sacrifice overseas for freedoms denied them at home, and her full expectation that such freedoms be granted upon their return.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The miniseries is based on a book by A'Lelia Bundles, Walker’s great-great-granddaughter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lelia-bundles-of-dc-is-a-descendant-of-madam-c-j-walker-who-news-photo/598200786">Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>At her first national convention of her sales agents held in Philadelphia, she and her agents collectively raised their voices through a <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/m0399/id/9556/rec/1">telegram against lynching sent to President Woodrow Wilson</a>. She wanted the government to make lynching a federal crime.</p>
<p>Walker also advocated for temperance, women’s suffrage, female empowerment and civil rights. She <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/m0399/id/7193/rec/3">secured a pardon</a> for a black man jailed for an alleged murder in Mississippi. And she shared her own encouraging story of success with audiences around the country as an affirmative testimony of the value and dignity of black life amid pervasive hateful and hurtful Jim Crow stereotypes.</p>
<h2>‘Netflix and engage’</h2>
<p>I hope that many viewers who see “Self-made” and feel inspired by Walker’s story consider a new way to binge on TV: “Netflix and Engage.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-Her-Own-Ground/ALelia-Bundles/9780743431729">Learn more about Madam Walker’s story</a> by reading the biographical account written by her great-great-granddaughter – the journalist, <a href="https://aleliabundles.com/">A'Lelia Bundles</a> – which inspired the series. Explore other chapters in <a href="https://bwstbooklist.net/">black women’s history</a>. </p>
<p>Surf Madam Walker’s <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/m0399">electronic archive</a> of 40,000 items at the Indiana Historical Society. Consider her influence on the musical and fashion icon <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/rihanna-30-greatest-moments-birthday.html">Rihanna</a> and <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/look-good-do-good-madam-c-j-walker-and-rihannas-beauty-politics/">today’s beauty culture industry</a>. Visit her company’s former <a href="https://madamwalkerlegacycenter.com/">headquarters</a> in Indianapolis. Admire the architecture of her <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/villa-lewaro-on-madam-c-j-walkers-architecture/">New York mansion</a> where women of color will be <a href="https://www.diversityinc.com/walker-estate-women-of-color/">trained to become entrepreneurs</a>. </p>
<p>Give to charity. March for a cause.</p>
<p>Like Walker, you may make a difference in someone’s life.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re too busy to read everything. We get it. That’s why we’ve got a weekly newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybusy">Sign up for good Sunday reading.</a> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A'Lelia Bundles, who authored the book upon which ‘Self-Made’ is based, wrote the foreword to Tyrone Freeman’s book about Madam C. J. Walker. Freeman is also a former member of the Indiana Historical Society's advisory council for the Madam Walker Exhibit.</span></em></p>The founder of a black hair-care empire supported the NAACP and the Tuskegee Institute, helped preserve Frederick Douglass’s home. She also tried to used her prominence to stop lynching.Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1292172020-01-21T13:50:25Z2020-01-21T13:50:25ZGiving is changing as philanthropy faces more scrutiny<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310039/original/file-20200114-151880-5dgol4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The foundation Bill and Melinda Gates run has more assets than any other.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bill-Gates-Philanthropy-Criticism/d6b28777303549538baa9efdb79689f1/8/0">AP Photo/Elaine Thompson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The more than <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-giving-lost-some-ground-in-2018-amid-tax-changes-and-stock-market-losses-118892">US$400 billion</a> Americans donate annually to charitable causes of all kinds, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/6-charts-that-illustrate-the-surprising-financial-strength-of-american-houses-of-worship-127689">houses of worship</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-public-universities-get-private-money-but-some-get-much-more-than-the-rest-120401">universities</a> and efforts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/awash-in-pink-but-breast-cancer-awareness-isnt-a-cure-31758">cure cancer</a>, add up to <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/How-the-Lilly-Family-School-of/247660">around 2% of the economy</a>. The Indiana University <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/">Lilly Family School</a> of Philanthropy, the only school of its kind, brings together scholars of sociology, history, economics, religious studies and other disciplines to explore what drives all this giving. In an interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, Lilly School Dean <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/people-directory/pasic-amir.html">Amir Pasic</a>, explains why he believes <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-the-giving-styles-of-the-rich-and-famous-alarm-us-all-75744">public debate</a> over <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-downside-of-doing-good-with-a-market-mindset-109210">philanthropy is growing</a> and how U.S. giving has begun to change.</em></p>
<p><strong>What would you say are the biggest factors making philanthropy much more visible?</strong></p>
<p>In recent years, many people have discovered the power of very wealthy people, and their giving and their salience in our society. They are questioning it.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a growing interest in philanthropy. I’ve seen a growing critique.</p>
<p>I’ve seen growing interest in philanthropic themes outside of the nonprofit sector, with businesses, but also governments that are increasingly opening up liaison offices to deal with or engage with private philanthropists at the same time.</p>
<p>I think that kind of parallels the growing consciousness of the inequality in our society, and the concentration, not only of wealth, but often concentration in industries. I think also, globally, there’s been a realization that classical models of the welfare state are under a lot of pressure. As economies around the world have generated wealth, that’s often come with certain people receiving disproportionately large amounts of wealth.</p>
<p>The question is, what are they going to do with it? Will they follow the models of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-hundreds-of-american-public-libraries-owe-to-carnegies-disdain-for-inherited-wealth-83067">Carnegies</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-1905-debate-about-tainted-rockefeller-money-is-a-reminder-of-ethical-dilemmas-today-124068">the Rockefellers</a>? </p>
<p>And you see philanthropy much more often on the cover of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic. You’re seeing a new podcasts like Vox’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect">Future Perfect</a>. They’re all covering philanthropy.</p>
<p>There are a lot of celebrities involved, like (Amazon founder) <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-jeff-bezos-gets-wrong-and-right-with-his-populist-philanthropy-79740">Jeff Bezos</a>. And there are negative examples: (financier, pedophile and alleged sex trafficker) <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ethicist-explains-why-philanthropy-is-no-license-to-do-bad-stuff-127426">Jeffrey Epstein</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fending-off-new-sackler-money-is-easier-for-museums-and-schools-than-returning-old-gifts-114242">Sacklers</a> (a family that has have given millions to arts and other institutions and also owns the opioid manufacturer <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-company-that-makes-oxycontin-could-become-a-public-trust-what-would-that-mean-126981">Purdue Pharma</a>) and others becoming very controversial for some of their bad actions. I wouldn’t say that all the Sacklers were necessarily bad actors, even if, obviously, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-laws-give-victims-more-time-to-report-rape-or-sexual-assault-even-jeffrey-epsteins-121408">Epstein was</a>. I think the abuse of position that wealth affords is what creates an intensity of interest.</p>
<p>You’re seeing greater visibility of philanthropy where extremely wealthy, extremely prominent, people have a lot of capacity to give. They end up doing things that capture a lot of attention, and they are capturing our imagination right now.</p>
<p>I’m seeing that as a generally positive thing. People are thinking about philanthropy even though sometimes their entry point is not one that we might want to see. I’m not sure what the impact is going to be on philanthropy, but part of me thinks it’s good to have some attention on it.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310040/original/file-20200114-151880-1svh3fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Oscar-winning actor, artist and activist Common supported a coat drive in Chicago as winter got underway in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Burlington-Coat-Drive-Event-with-Common-and-The-Common-Ground-Foundation/efa44ba58ae64ac3b0073f5aed47e0ca/6/0">John Konstantaras/AP Images for Burlington Stores</a></span>
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<p><strong>At some level, you see this news coverage and debate as advertising for philanthropy?</strong></p>
<p>That’s right. It could be increasing philanthropy’s visibility. </p>
<p>Applications to attend the Lilly School are growing, but they’re not growing in the way you would expect with these huge stories, like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-college-admissions-racket-would-funnel-bribes-through-a-fake-charity-113603">Varsity Blues</a> (college admissions scandal) and the excesses of wealth, and signs that philanthropy is something that the wealthy may use for their own purposes, as a way to sugarcoat their privilege and reinforce their status.</p>
<p>Although much of this news has been scandal-driven, hopefully this visibility will lead to deeper curiosity. That’s my hope.</p>
<p>One of the things that I’m not too happy about is when people equate philanthropy with something only very wealthy people do. This is a myth that the school strives to help people understand: Philanthropy is something everyone can do.</p>
<p>The word philanthropy is kind of unwieldy and not an everyday word that people use. You see a lot of people, especially in the emerging generations, using terms like “social good” or “impact” or “social innovation,” to capture the notion of wanting to improve the world around them.</p>
<p><strong>What is the role of scholars in terms of resolving the issues facing philanthropy or helping generate more interest in giving?</strong></p>
<p>The scholars who research philanthropy follow their curiosity. They ask fundamental questions and look at things from different angles. Their interest is not motivated by raising more money for a particular organization or proving that a certain intervention is going to work in a certain context.</p>
<p>They ask fundamental questions about how things should work and what should be the role of philanthropy in a democracy.</p>
<p>There’s no mention of philanthropy in the Constitution for example, just like there’s no mention of education in the Constitution.</p>
<p>We bring together social scientists, humanists, scholars of education, librarians, all kinds of different people who are just interested in how generosity works. </p>
<p>Our scholars ask questions like <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-why-people-give-their-money-away-plus-1-why-they-dont-87801">what makes people give</a>? How can people understand its <a href="https://theconversation.com/400-years-of-black-giving-from-the-days-of-slavery-to-the-2019-morehouse-graduation-121402">role throughout history</a>? How can people think about their own giving and what they <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-3-stages-of-giving-deference-arrogance-and-inquiry-94609">want to contribute</a> to the world?</p>
<p>They would not only worry so much about the billionaires who are philanthropists, but rather the billions of philanthropists that exist in the world.</p>
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<p><strong>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/charity-and-taxes-4-questions-answered-89512">2017 tax reform package</a> didn’t directly change rules about giving, but it had an impact on giving by <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/standard-deduction-itemized-deductions-current-law-2019/">reducing the number of people who itemize</a> and can take advantage of the charitable deduction. Are there any changes you’re seeing so far that you’re concerned about?</strong></p>
<p>Yes. We’re seeing that <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-giving-lost-some-ground-in-2018-amid-tax-changes-and-stock-market-losses-118892">significantly fewer Americans gave in 2016 than in 2002</a>, (<em>even before the tax code changes took effect</em>). Studies suggest that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-fewer-americans-are-donating-to-charity">fewer households are itemizing deductions</a> on their federal taxes, reducing an incentive to give – which also could affect the number of Americans who give to charity.</p>
<p>We used to be confident of the fact that more Americans gave <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-asked-people-why-they-dont-vote-and-this-is-what-they-told-me-129421">than voted</a>. We thought that giving was a more dominant expression of civic connection than voting was.</p>
<p>Right now it’s probably close and we may not be able to say that any more.</p>
<p>I think that’s worrisome. We think that giving is part of associational life, the way we join different organizations, the way we learn how to be together and solve mutual problems.</p>
<p>Giving is not only a question about resources and the way they’re distributed. The kinds of causes that middle-class people give to may be different than the causes very wealthy people support. It could be an indication that communal activity is decreasing.</p>
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<p><strong>What do you say to the person who is no longer giving or no longer giving as much because they’ve lost the charitable deduction. How do you encourage them to keep going?</strong></p>
<p>In addition to the financial incentive, there’s also a symbolic incentive in the sense that government, the collective expression of our democracy, is saying that giving is so important that we’re going to create a deduction for it. And so losing the deduction removed this recognition.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to find ways to recognize the way people engage in a variety of helping behaviors, regardless of where they are, and to help them understand how valuable it is and how honorable. It also feels good and makes them feel better.</p>
<p>Those are all positive messages to send. People try to do that through campaigns like <a href="https://www.givingtuesday.org/blog/2018/11/givingtuesday-2018-surpasses-billion-dollars-online-donations-its-inception-most">Giving Tuesday</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/posting-on-facebook-is-helping-nonprofits-of-all-sizes-raise-money-122002">other campaigns</a> to compete with the kind of commercial marketing messages that people get all the time.</p>
<p>Engaging in giving experiences, whether they’re financial or not, is also satisfying. We know they make people feel happier than buying things.</p>
<p>We have a lot of questions about what’s happening with crowdfunding and how best to understand and measure that. Giving via GoFundMe, for example, isn’t always for charity. Sometimes it raises money for personal vacations or maybe directly helping a neighbor who has a disease.</p>
<p>Yet crowdfunding is often an expression of generosity, regardless of whether it’s technically counted in formal tallies of giving.</p>
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<p><strong>Based on the trends you’ve been seeing in philanthropy and giving generally, do you have any suggestions for the billions of philanthropists rather than the billionaire philanthropists?</strong></p>
<p>There’s something fundamental about wanting to give. What we end up giving to are the things that are most meaningful to us. Folks have a choice. </p>
<p>There is something wonderfully personal and freeing, in terms of giving. You make your own decisions. This is something that should bring you joy and satisfaction.</p>
<p>Think of giving as meaningful. It’s more meaningful than the purchase of another bauble, even though the people who sell the bauble can bombard you with a lot more messages than your local neighborhood nonprofit that might need you a lot more.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Both the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and The Conversation US have received funding from the Lilly Endowment.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The dean of the only school of philanthropy sees some good in the attention charity-related scandals are generating.Emily Schwartz Greco, Philanthropy + Nonprofits Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1083812018-12-16T18:51:49Z2018-12-16T18:51:49ZCan your heart grow three sizes? A doctor reads ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250084/original/file-20181211-76962-7m31me.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Grinch as depicted in the recently released movie 'The Grinch.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illumination Entertainment</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the beginning of Dr. Seuss’ “<a href="https://maken.wikiwijs.nl/bestanden/642289/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas%20(2)%20(1).pdf">How the Grinch Stole Christmas</a>,” the green, pot-bellied, feline-faced Grinch is a bitter, foul-tempered misanthrope whose heart is “two sizes too small.” In the middle of the story, he plots to steal all the Christmas gifts in Whoville and toss them from a cliff. At the end, having learned that stealing the presents does not destroy the Whos’ fellowship and joy, he begins to see the deeper meaning of the holiday. He has a change of heart, and when he returns their gifts, his heart grows three sizes.</p>
<p>As a physician, I know that heart size matters. Having always assumed that bigger muscles are better muscles, in medical school I was surprised to learn that <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/enlarged-heart/symptoms-causes/syc-20355436">cardiomegaly</a>, the medical term for a large heart, is in fact a sign of disease – most commonly an indicator of heart failure, a condition that afflicts nearly <a href="http://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-failure/what-is-heart-failure">6 million U.S. adults</a>. The heart gets bigger because, as its ability to pump blood begins to decline, it allows its muscle fibers to be stretched more, like a spring, in order to recoil with greater force.</p>
<p>Of course, when Dr. Seuss described the size of the Grinch’s heart, he did not have in mind a medical condition. Instead he was indicating a metaphorical failure of the heart, an organ which has often been regarded as the <a href="http://depts.washington.edu/lsearlec/TEXTS/EDWARDS/VIRTUE.HTM">center of affection and the seat of goodness</a>. But just who was this “Dr.” Seuss, how did he come to be writing and illustrating children’s books, and what was he trying to get across in his strange little tale about the people of Whoville and their delightfully diabolical nemesis, the Grinch?</p>
<h2>Dr. Seuss</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.nea.org/grants/seuss-biography.html">Dr. Seuss</a>, also known as Theodor Seuss Geisel, was the son of Henrietta (née Seuss) and Theodor Geisel. Born in Massachusetts in 1904, he graduated from Dartmouth College and then attended Oxford University. Working for a time as an illustrator for popular magazines and advertising campaigns, he also produced films for the U.S. Army. He published his first children’s book in 1937, and it was 20 years later that “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” first appeared.</p>
<p>Geisel’s 60-plus books have sold over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-top-five-best-selling-dr-seuss-books-of-all-time/2015/07/22/129a5ec4-3091-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7_gallery.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c9bd7b572836">650 million copies</a> and been translated into at least 17 languages, making him one of the best-selling children’s authors of all time. In addition, his characters have spawned television shows, films and a Broadway musical. Though Geisel left Oxford before receiving his degree, in 1956 <a href="https://geiselmed.dartmouth.edu/news/2012/04/04_geisel.shtml">Dartmouth</a> awarded him an honorary doctorate, legitimizing “Dr. Seuss.” In 2012, it named its medical school the Geisel School of Medicine.</p>
<h2>The Grinch</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060345/">1966 television adaptation</a>, which featured Boris Karloff as both the narrator and the voice of the Grinch, included the song, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Hj3U18FHgQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Thurl Ravenscroft sings the Grinch song in the 1966 TV special.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Grinch’s heart figures prominently in the lyrics, which include the lines, “Your heart’s an empty hole,” “Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots,” and “Your heart is full of unwashed socks.” The book offers some clues as to how the Grinch’s heart came to be in such sorry shape.</p>
<p>Perhaps drawing on Charles Dickens’ portrait of Ebenezer Scrooge in “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-charles-dickens-redeemed-the-spirit-of-christmas-52335">A Christmas Carol</a>,” Seuss paints a creature who has been living in near-complete isolation for many years – in the Grinch’s case, 53 years atop a lonely cliff overlooking the town. Every year, he observes the people of Whoville celebrating the holiday, and the sounds of bells ringing and the singing of Christmas carols has become positively unbearable to him.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250542/original/file-20181213-178561-1rskbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A billboard of Jim Carrey as the Grinch in the 2000 movie.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angeles-usa-sep-27-2015-360981806?src=c-25fXIQ-NUrI91MRiUH6g-1-5">Anton_Ivanov/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like Scrooge, who considers Christmas a “humbug,” the Grinch believes that the festive spirit of the holiday is a mere fraud, a thin veneer of rejoicing that can be easily ripped away by depriving the Whos of the trimmings of the season. To his surprise, however, relieving them of all the gifts they give and hope to receive does not dampen their holiday cheer. Even after waking to find no presents under the tree, they join together in a joyous Christmas song.</p>
<h2>The message</h2>
<p>Instead of destroying the spirit of the holiday by stripping away its trappings, the Grinch, to his surprise, ends up purifying and amplifying it. In doing so, he echoes the <a href="https://groovyhistory.com/story-behind-grinch-stole-christmas/1">sentiments of his creator</a>, who at the age of 53 was brushing his teeth one 26th of December and “noticed a very Grinch-ish countenance in the mirror. It was Seuss! So I wrote about my sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I’d lost.”</p>
<p>The idea that the Christmas holiday has built up so many commercial accretions that its essential meaning has become obscured is not a new one. Nearly 500 years ago, the reformist theologian John Calvin famously wrote that, because the birth memorialized in Christmas is of the utmost importance, <a href="https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/calvin/calvin_36sermons.html#sermon02">earthly things</a> – “all enjoyments, all honors, all things desirable” – must not be allowed to supersede its holy meaning. Genuine celebration is impossible unless it is focused on the real cause for joy.</p>
<p>Geisel, the grandson of <a href="https://www.seussinspringfield.org/who-dr-seuss/who-ted-geisel/grandparents">four German immigrants</a> whose upbringing was steeped in Lutheranism, knew this tradition well. What matters most about Christmas is not the merchandise in the shops or the presents under the tree, but what is in the heart of the those who rejoice in the true meaning of the holiday – the idea that generosity and love pulse at the very core of creation, and that it is in acknowledging what we have received that we open up ourselves up fully to sharing and fellowship.</p>
<p>To be sure, we can do a lot to promote <a href="http://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/life-after-a-heart-attack/lifestyle-changes-for-heart-attack-prevention">cardiac health</a> by avoiding smoking, maintaining physical fitness, and eating right. But when we talk about undergoing a change of heart or getting our heart in the right place, we have in mind more than a biological pump that needs fuel. We are talking about what it means to be human, who we are as human beings, and what kind of people we are aspiring to become. As the Grinch discovers, a fully human life is possible only for those whose hearts are big and full.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gunderman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dr. Seuss’ most famous character has a lot to teach us about heart.Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1079552018-12-13T22:12:57Z2018-12-13T22:12:57Z5 ways to infuse your family with the spirit of generosity this Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249108/original/file-20181205-186082-12lny8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research shows that a parent’s level of generosity and charitable behaviour is linked with their child’s display of the same behaviours. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around this time each year, many children have made a Christmas wish list that includes items like toys, games, crafts and electronics. While children may express gratitude and joy in response to receiving gifts, the concept of generosity of spirit has certainly changed over the years. </p>
<p>It was St. Nicholas’s legendary status of generosity that gave rise to the modern-day tradition of Santa Claus. As the story goes, as a young boy, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Nicholas">St. Nicholas</a> was left with a substantial amount of inheritance when his parents died. He used this to help others, primarily the poor. </p>
<p>St. Nicholas was generous. <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-8607-2">Generosity is defined as the quality of being kind and giving time, attention or gifts to others without conditions</a> or the expectation of getting something in return. Being generous is seen as a positive virtue in people and has links with other emotions such as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.101.1.91">empathy and compassion</a>. </p>
<h2>Parental behaviour matters</h2>
<p>The roots of generosity, such as empathy, compassion and prosocial behavior, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014179">begin to develop in the toddler years</a>. </p>
<p>One study of charitable giving by children shows that <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/research/women_give_2013-final9-12-2013.pdf">boys and girls give equally</a>. Research also shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.10.003">by the age of nine most children have a good understanding of generosity</a>. As with all aspects of development, as the child ages, greater understanding and mastery of generosity will unfold.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249377/original/file-20181206-128214-1km74pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When parents model acts of generosity in their everyday lives, such as taking care of elderly neighbours, they help their children learn to do the same.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What role do parents play in socializing children to be more generous? One way is by showing generosity themselves. Research shows that a parent’s level of generosity and charitable behaviour <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2008.04.004">is correlated with their child’s display of the same behaviours</a>. </p>
<p>Modelling generosity makes an impression on children and is thus a great first step to fostering this behaviour. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13015">Siblings can also effectively role model empathy and compassion</a>, and by extension, generosity. </p>
<p>Another way is to talk with children about generosity. Studies have shown that having family discussions about generosity had a stronger influence on <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/research/women_give_2013-final9-12-2013.pdf">children’s charitable behaviour</a> than parent role modelling alone. </p>
<h2>Five ways to help foster generosity</h2>
<ol>
<li><p><em><strong>Give experiences</strong></em>. Gifts do not always need to come in the form of material possessions. Giving experiences can be of value as well. This can include time with caregivers, such as a set of tickets that children can “turn in” to bake together, do arts and crafts, go skating, swimming, hiking or to a movie or the theatre. These experiences are also opportunities to discuss the value of family connection and making memories.</p></li>
<li><p><em><strong>Give to those in need</strong></em>. Discuss the legend of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and his spirit of giving to those who are less fortunate. Encourage children to add a gift to someone in need to their Christmas or birthday wish list, or to give used or unused material possessions (such as toys, books or clothing) to those without.</p></li>
<li><p><em><strong>Give without expecting anything in return</strong></em>. The core concept of generosity is to give without conditions. Show children that being charitable is unconditional. Several reputable local, national and international organizations have charitable gift-giving programs for children in need (for example, providing water purification tablets and school supplies).</p></li>
<li><p><em><strong>Give the gift of time</strong></em>. Together with your children, come up with a list of ways they could give their time to someone else. This could be shovelling someone’s driveway, weeding a neighbour’s garden or cleaning up his or her local park. They could also give their time to an organization in need of volunteers (for example a soup kitchen).</p></li>
<li><p><em><strong>Give year round</strong></em>. Generosity and kindness shouldn’t just happen over the holidays. Make these concepts part of your everyday family life and try to schedule acts of kindness together. At the dinner table, ask your children: “Can you tell me a time today you showed kindness?” You can also talk about how, as a parent, you showed kindness or generosity to someone in your professional or personal life that day. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Giving gifts is certainly part of being generous, but as we all know, the holidays can also be a time of stress and panic about getting the right gift, navigating the shopping mania in stores, and frankly, just paying for everything. All is not lost, however — there are other narratives parents can use around kids when it comes to generosity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheri Madigan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Research Chairs program and the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.</span></em></p>Children start developing empathy and compassion as toddlers and should have a good understanding of generosity by age nine. Parents can help foster these behaviours.Sheri Madigan, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1056062018-11-21T18:43:43Z2018-11-21T18:43:43ZWhen you’re grateful, your brain becomes more charitable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246728/original/file-20181121-161612-1kw59m0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volunteering at a food bank is one way people feel rewarded by giving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Pennsylvania-Daily-Life/4f3f592f33ee406eba01dea11069a450/1/0">AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>‘Tis the season when the conversation shifts to what you’re thankful for. Gathered with family and friends around a holiday feast, for instance, people may recount some of the biggies – like their health or their children – or smaller things that enhance everyday life – like happening upon a great movie while channel-surfing or enjoying a favorite seasonal food.</p>
<p>Psychology researchers recognize that taking time to be thankful has benefits for well-being. Not only does gratitude go along with more optimism, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2016.1169332">less anxiety and depression</a>, and greater goal attainment, but it’s also associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000316">fewer symptoms of illness</a> and other physical benefits.</p>
<p>In recent years, researchers have been making connections between the internal experience of gratitude and the external practice of altruism. How does being thankful about things in your own life relate to any selfless concern you may have about the well-being of others?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hExTDycAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">As a neuroscientist</a>, I’m particularly interested in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2018/05/07/JNEUROSCI.2944-17.2018.abstract">brain regions and connections</a> that support gratitude and altruism. I’ve been exploring how changes in one might lead to changes in the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246732/original/file-20181121-161615-1n4vn8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Volunteers’ brain activity was tracked while in an MRI scanner to try to untangle the relationship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Oregon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shared pathway for gratitude and altruism</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00599">To study the relationship between gratitude and altruism in the brain</a>, my colleagues and I first asked volunteers questions meant to tease out how frequently they feel thankful and the degree to which they tend to care about the well-being of others. Then we used statistics to determine the extent to which someone’s gratitude could predict their altruism. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000242">As others</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1388435">have found</a>, the more grateful people in this group tended to be more altruistic.</p>
<p>The next step was to explore more about how these tendencies are reflected in the brain. Our study participants performed a giving activity in the MRI scanner. They watched as the computer transferred real money to their own account or to the account of a local food bank. Sometimes they could choose whether to give or receive, but other times the transfers were like a mandatory tax, outside their control. We especially wanted to compare what happened in the brain when a participant received money as opposed to seeing money given to the charity instead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246582/original/file-20181120-161638-42ltpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deep in the front part of your brain, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex helps process risk and reward.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christina Karns</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It turns out that the neural connection between gratitude and giving is very deep, both literally and figuratively. A region deep in the frontal lobe of the brain, called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, is key to supporting both. Anatomically, this region is wired up to be a hub for processing the value of risk and reward; it’s richly connected to even deeper brain regions that provide a kick of pleasurable neurochemicals in the right circumstances. It holds abstract representations of the inner and outer world that help with complex reasoning, one’s representation of oneself and even social processing.</p>
<p>Beyond identifying the place in the brain that was especially active during these tasks, we also saw differences in just how active this region was in various individuals. </p>
<p>We calculated what we termed a “pure altruism response” by comparing how active the reward regions of the brain were during “charity-gain” versus “self-gain” situations. The participants I’d identified as more grateful and more altruistic via the questionnaire had a higher “pure altruism” scores – that is, a stronger response in these reward regions of the brain when they saw the charity gaining money. It felt good for them to see the food bank do well.</p>
<p>In other studies, some of my colleagues had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000209">zeroed in on this same brain region</a>. They found that individual differences in self-reported “benevolence” were mirrored by participants’ brains’ responses to charitable donations, including in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.</p>
<p>So is this brain reward region the key to kindness? Well, it’s complicated.</p>
<h2>Practice makes grateful, makes altruistic?</h2>
<p>The human brain is amazingly flexible. The absence of hearing in someone who’s born deaf opens up brain real estate that would have processed sound to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6488-11.2012">instead deal with other sensory information</a>, like touch. Neuroscientists call this plasticity.</p>
<p>In recent years I’ve been testing the idea that the plasticity of the mature brain can be used to enhance the experience of well-being. Could practice change how emotions that support social relationships – like gratitude, empathy and altruism – are typically programmed into the brain? Through practicing gratitude, could people become more generous? </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00599">My colleagues and I decided to test whether</a> by changing the amount of gratitude people felt, we could alter the way the ventromedial prefrontal cortex responds to giving and receiving. I randomly assigned study participants to one of two groups. For three weeks, one group wrote in their journals about gratitude, keeping track of the things they were thankful for. Over the same period, the other group wrote about engaging topics from their lives that weren’t specific to gratitude.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246657/original/file-20181121-161615-xbi1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just writing it down had an effect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/jw3xbuelpKM">fotografierende/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2007.03.005">Gratitude journaling</a> seemed to work. Just keeping a written account about gratitude led people to report experiencing more of the emotion. Other recent work also indicates that gratitude practice <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000472">makes people more supportive of others</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032701">improves relationships</a>.</p>
<p>Importantly, the participants in our study also exhibited a change in how their brains responded to giving. In the MRI scanner, the group that practiced gratitude by journaling increased their “pure altruism” measure in the reward regions of the brain. Their responses to charity-gain increased more than those to self-gain.</p>
<figure>
<img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/365/unnamed.gif?1542821507">
<figcaption><span class="caption">The pink in these scans shows the region that responded more to giving after practicing gratitude for three weeks.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Altering the exchange rate for what’s rewarding</h2>
<p>The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is connected to other brain systems that help you experience reward. These high-level systems in your frontal lobes are constantly assessing the value of your decisions. This part of the brain helps you place various things in a hierarchy of how rewarding you find them to be. It may help you determine which decisions, goals and relationships to prioritize.</p>
<p>Here’s an analogy: When I was 13, my aunt gave me an amazing opportunity to travel with her to Britain. When I started saving up my babysitting money, it cost US$1.65 to buy one British pound sterling. But by the time of the trip, it cost nearly $2.00 to buy one British pound. A £10 British souvenir that would have cost $16 a few months ago would now cost me $20. In other words, the value of each dollar bill fluctuated with the exchange rate. </p>
<p>I imagine the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is like the office where you exchange dollars to pounds or vice versa. For the people with more grateful and altruistic tendencies, it seems the ventromedial prefrontal cortex assigns more value to charitable donations than to receiving money for themselves.</p>
<p>Practicing gratitude shifted the value of giving in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. It changed the exchange rate in the brain. Giving to charity became more valuable than receiving money yourself. After the brain calculates the exchange rate, you get paid in the neural currency of reward, the delivery of neurotransmitters that signal pleasure and goal attainment. </p>
<p>So in terms of the brain’s reward response, it really can be true that giving is better than receiving. As you sail through the holidays – whether with a Thanksgiving banquet spread out for our friends and family, a busy shopping day on Black Friday or a pile of Christmas presents – taking time to practice gratitude can help make giving the most rewarding of activity of all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by a grant to Christina Karns from the Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude Project through UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, in partnership with UC Davis, with funding from the John Templeton Foundation. The authors acknowledge additional financial support provided by the Templeton Religion Trust through a grant to Christina Karns from the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing at the University of Oklahoma. They also thank the University of Oregon Lewis Center for Neuroimaging for both financial and staff support. </span></em></p>How does being thankful about things in your own life relate to any selfless concern you may have about the well-being of others? A neuroscientist explores the gratitude/altruism connection.Christina Karns, Research Associate in Psychology and the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training; Director of Emotions and Neuroplasticity Project, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/972312018-08-06T16:22:39Z2018-08-06T16:22:39ZIs it good for you to be good?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230091/original/file-20180731-136661-1yvxsus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are physical, emotional, mental and even business benefits to being virtuous, kind and acting with integrity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was very young, five or six, my parents always told me: “Tommy, be good.”</p>
<p>But all I wanted to do was run in the woods, play in puddles, eat fast, swim and have fun. I didn’t have time for manners. Being good seemed always to benefit someone else, not me. Why do I have to follow rules, not cut in line, say pleasant things to others when all I feel like doing is telling them off. It’s good for others, right? </p>
<p>Well, yes … and maybe no. Maybe it’s good not just for others, but for me too. </p>
<p>It’s easy to see how following the rules of the road is good for you. But what about other more subtle virtues, like being polite, empathetic, generous, grateful, honest and even altruistic? </p>
<p><a href="http://www.hep.upenn.edu/%7Ejohnda/Papers/Virtue.pdf">The ancient Greeks had the view that virtue</a> was broader than our current understanding of morality. They believed virtue could be seen in any object, or in the behaviour of people, as the expression of excellence or perfection. For example, they felt one could hear virtue in music or see it in a horse. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230095/original/file-20180731-136679-17m5mfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A horse named Virtue?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In music, virtue might be described like it is in <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/beethovens-ode-to-joy-lyrics-history-724410">Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as heavenly</a>, and could be generalized as excellence. Physically, a horse that is healthy and flawless might be considered an excellent (virtuous) specimen of a horse. </p>
<p>The ancient Chinese also held a similar expansive view of virtue. They believed that the more virtuous a person was, the more physically healthy they were. It could be seen in the quality of their eyes and skin, and there were other positive consequences. A virtuous person <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/CSIMVE">would live a healthy long life</a>, the Chinese believed.</p>
<p>If we think of human virtue as not limited to moral matters but also to physical, emotional and mental matters, then it’s possible to understand how being virtuous might be good for you. </p>
<h2>Physical health as virtue</h2>
<p>Take physically. We all know what it takes to be physically healthy: Good diet, exercise, adequate sleep, etc. One could say that when we do these things, we are being physically virtuous, and we attain the virtue of good health. </p>
<p>Similarly, from an emotional perspective, we know that having a positive social network, avoiding toxic people and having a positive state of mind by avoiding ruminating on anxious negative thoughts are ways in which we can practise being emotionally virtuous.</p>
<p>These examples illustrate that engaging in virtuous physical and emotional activities is good for you. </p>
<p>OK, so what about higher-level virtues such as generosity, gratitude and integrity? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230094/original/file-20180731-118933-1yta9zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While there may not be a sculpture dedicated to you and your good deeds, being good is, in fact, good for you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Considering generosity, Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, authors of the book <em><a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199394906.001.0001/acprof-9780199394906">The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose,</a></em>
argue: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Generosity is paradoxical. By giving ourselves away, we ourselves move toward flourishing.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also note: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“By grasping onto what we currently have, we lose out on better goods that we might have gained.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>With respect to gratitude, U.S. psychology professor <a href="http://www.brainsync.com/blog/dr-robert-emmons-the-importance-of-gratitude/">Robert Emmons</a> has studied its impact on happiness and well-being and discovered that there is a positive relationship between gratitude and happiness. The more grateful we are, the happier we are.</p>
<p>These are matters of interpersonal affairs, but even in business there is an argument <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1542759">that integrity produces positive payback for individuals and firms.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1511274">Michael Jensen of Harvard Business School</a> defines integrity as: “A state or condition of being whole, complete, unbroken, unimpaired, sound, in perfect condition.” It’s essential to ensure optimal performance. There are clear parallels between Jensen’s notion of integrity and the ancient Greek notion of virtue as a kind of excellence.</p>
<p>From a human perspective, Jensen also defines integrity as “keeping one’s word,” meaning, in simple terms, doing what we say we’ll do and if unable to follow through as promised, then taking action to repair the damage or problems caused.</p>
<h2>Integrity leads to better performance</h2>
<p>We understand that an automobile will not perform properly if one of the tires is running low on air or is flat. You can probably still drive the car, but it doesn’t work very well. </p>
<p>When a vehicle is in good condition and has integrity, it performs effectively. Jensen argues, similarly, that when people within an organization act with integrity, the organization will perform much better.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/memo-to-gordon-gekko-ethics-not-greed-boost-profits-78983">Memo to Gordon Gekko: Ethics, not greed, boost profits</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>He provides the example of implementing integrity in his firm the <a href="https://www.ssrn.com/institutes/">Social Science Research Network</a> and experiencing increased output of 300 per cent with no increase in costs. Jensen argues that the interpersonal interactions of business people is a factor of productivity, just as effective utilization of capital and labour are necessary for the success of any company. </p>
<p>Jensen argues that integrity is not just an option — it’s a necessary condition for performance. </p>
<p>These are not unusual or unfamiliar ideas. We all have experiences with companies that we know we can trust, and those we don’t. It’s not difficult to imagine that trustworthy companies will enjoy customer loyalty, repeat business and likely better financial performance.</p>
<p>Is it good for Tommy to be good? As a child, I thought being good was for the benefit of others and it really wasn’t all that necessary. But I am learning at many levels that the virtues that contribute to good physical, emotional, mental and interpersonal health, defined as morals, are good for me too. </p>
<p>But one aside: If I am generous to you and expect something in return, this is not virtue. It’s a business exchange.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Culham receives funding from the Morrison Foundation. </span></em></p>Research shows that virtue in all areas of life contributes to good physical, emotional, mental and interpersonal health. It is, in fact, good for you to be good.Thomas Culham, Visiting Lecturer, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/924592018-02-26T17:03:43Z2018-02-26T17:03:43ZFive reasons why being kind makes you feel good – according to science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207846/original/file-20180226-140200-1ll1jqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Generosity boosts reward mechanisms in the brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-beggar-hood-showing-seeking-human-694710103">Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everybody can appreciate acts of kindness. But when it comes to explaining why we do them, people often take <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-true-altruist-or-driven-by-self-interest-brain-scan-may-give-verdict-55545">one of two extreme positions</a>. Some think kindness is something completely selfless that we do out of love and care, while others believe it is just a tool that we cunningly use to become more popular and reap the benefits.</p>
<p>But research shows that being kind to others can actually make us genuinely happy in a number of different ways. We know that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/103/42/15623.abstract">deciding to be generous</a> or <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F7854_2016_445">cooperating with others</a> activates an area of the brain called the <a href="https://www.neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/know-your-brain-striatum">striatum</a>. Interestingly, this area responds to things we find rewarding, such as nice food and even addictive drugs. The feel-good emotion from helping has been termed “warm glow” and the activity we see in the striatum is the likely biological basis of that feeling.</p>
<p>Of course, you don’t have to scan brains to see that kindness has this kind of benefit. Research in psychology shows a link between kindness and well-being throughout life, starting at a very <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0265407517738584">young age</a>. In fact, even just reflecting on having been kind in the past <a href="http://tinyurl.com/hg7qck5">may be enough to improve teenagers’ mood</a>. Research has also shown that spending extra money on other people <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/319/5870/1687">may be more powerful in increasing happiness</a> than spending it on yourself.</p>
<p>But why and how does kindness make us so happy? There are a number of different mechanisms involved, and how powerful they are in making us feel good may depend on our personalities.</p>
<h2>1. Contagious smiling</h2>
<p>Being kind is likely to make someone smile and if you see that smile for yourself, it might be catchy. A <a href="https://thecharitablebrain.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/how-does-your-brain-know-whats-going-on-in-my-brain/">key theory</a> about how we understand other people in neuroscience suggests that seeing someone else show an emotion automatically activates the same areas of the brain as if we experienced that emotion for ourselves. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207851/original/file-20180226-140200-ahp8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wait, why are we laughing again?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacob Lund/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You may have been in a situation where you find yourself laughing just because someone else is – why not set off that chain of good feelings with a nice surprise for someone?</p>
<h2>2. Righting a wrong</h2>
<p>The same mechanism also makes us empathise with others when they are feeling negative, which could make us feel down. This is <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/human-brains-are-hardwired-empathy-friendship-study-shows">particularly true</a> for close friends and family, as our representations of them in the brain physically overlap with our representations of ourselves. Doing a kind act to make someone who is sad feel better can also make us feel good – partly because we feel the same relief they do and partly because we are putting something right. Although this effect is especially powerful for people we are close to, it can even apply to humanitarian problems such as poverty or climate change. Getting engaged with charities that tackle these issues provide a way <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/aknin%20dunn%20whillans%20grant%20norton_e35af370-c8a9-42d0-ac4c-c5cd991161ef.pdf">to have a positive impact</a>, which in turn improves mood. </p>
<h2>3. Making connections</h2>
<p>Being kind opens up many different possibilities to start or develop a social connection with someone. Kind acts such as a buying someone a thoughtful present or even just a coffee strengthens friendships, and <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11148070/aknin%2Cdunn%2Csandstrom%2Cnorton_does-social-connection.pdf?sequence=1">that in itself is linked to improved mood</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207848/original/file-20180226-120971-183qi55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Connected forever?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leo Hidalgo/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, charities offer the opportunity to connect with someone on the other side of the world through donating to improve their life. Volunteering also opens up new circles of people to connect with, both other volunteers and those you are helping. </p>
<h2>4. A kind identity</h2>
<p>Most people would like to think of themselves as a kind person, so acts of kindness help us to demonstrate that positive identity and make us feel proud of ourselves. In one <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265407517738584">recent study</a>, even children in their first year of secondary school recognised how being kind can make you feel “better as a person … more complete”, leading to feelings of happiness. This effect is even more powerful when the kind act links with other aspects of our personality, perhaps creating a more purposeful feeling. For example, an animal-lover could rescue a bird, an art-lover could donate to a gallery or a retired teacher could volunteer at an after-school group. Research suggests that the more someone identifies with the organisation they volunteer for, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nml.82/full">the more satisfied they are</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Kindness comes back around</h2>
<p>Work on the psychology of kindness shows that one out of several possible motivations is reciprocity, the returning of a favour. This can happen <a href="http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/5608/1/IR-98-040.pdf">directly or indirectly</a>. Someone might remember that you helped them out last time and therefore be more likely to help you in the future. It could also be that one person being kind makes others in the group more kind, which lifts everyone’s spirits. Imagine that you bake cakes for the office and it catches on so someone does it each month. That is a lot more days that you’re getting cakes than providing them. </p>
<p>The story doesn’t end there. Being kind may boost your mood, but research has also shown that being in a good mood can <a href="https://happylabubc.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/aknin-dunn-norton-happiness-runs-in-a-circular-motion-2012.pdf">make you more kind</a>. This makes it a wonderful two-way relationship which just keeps giving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Cutler has received a research grant in the past from Kindness UK, a not-for-profit which promotes acts of kindness so may benefit from this piece! Jo is also a member of several charitable and political not-for-profit organisations, none of which will benefit directly from this piece.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Banerjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea that we are only kind to get ahead doesn’t seem to hold up, being nice genuinely makes us feel good.Jo Cutler, PhD Candidate in Psychology, University of SussexRobin Banerjee, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911732018-02-15T10:18:58Z2018-02-15T10:18:58ZHow we discovered that it is possible to feel optimism for others<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205544/original/file-20180208-180829-16rv9yz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The more you like someone, the more optimistic you are for them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-brightful-positive-moments-two-stylish-533952946?src=kb6zzAl0jF830PwMYBGVbw-1-6">Look Studio/Shuterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As any good storyteller knows, people have a lot of faith in fictional heroes and their ability to beat all odds. In fact, without this enthusiastic trust in characters, popular stories such as Star Wars, Cinderella or Slumdog Millionaire simply wouldn’t work. But what’s the mechanism behind this powerful belief in others? </p>
<p>When I started thinking about this, my hunch was that it could be a type of “vicarious optimism” that we feel for other people. This idea clashes with our current understanding of <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-28087-001">optimism as a self-centered phenomenon</a>: I believe that good things will happen to me, not you. But my colleagues and I felt that psychologists may have been missing something. We set up a series of experiments to test how far reaching optimism really is. </p>
<p>Readers of fiction need to disregard bad news about the heroes of the story and trust good news in order to believe in a happy ending. This is similar to what people do for themselves. Research has shown that in order to remain optimistic about their own future, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982211011912">people dismiss bad news</a> (things might be worse than expected) and readily incorporate good news (things might be better than expected). </p>
<p>Yet, research also tells us that we do not only care about the future outcomes of ourselves, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10683-011-9283-7">but also those of others</a>, even strangers. We also know that people have the capability to experience vicarious emotions <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25247366">in response to other people’s successes and misfortunes</a>. So maybe the feeling of optimism could also extend to others?</p>
<p>To find out, we started by examining if people show vicarious optimism in learning about the future of a friend. We asked 83 participants to name a friend and then imagine a series of misfortunes happening to them, such as having their car stolen, getting cancer or missing a flight. </p>
<p>After imagining an event happening to their friend, they had to estimate each time how likely they felt it was that this would happen to their friend in real life. Participants might, for instance, indicate that they felt that there was a 35% chance that their friend would get cancer. We then gave them an evidence-based likelihood of an average person similar to their friend getting cancer. Thereafter, they had another chance to estimate how likely they thought it was.</p>
<p>Now imagine that the average risk of getting cancer was 25%. This would be good news, it would mean that the friend was less likely to get cancer than the participant had thought. What our participants did after receiving good news about their friends’ future was to drastically lower their likelihood estimate. However, if they were told that the average chance was, for example, 45% instead – bad news – they did little to adjust their original estimate.</p>
<p>This is the signature of the optimistic bias in learning – readily incorporating good news into beliefs, but mostly neglecting bad news. And while we knew that about 70-80% of people do this for their own future, our study, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797617737129">published in Psychological Science</a>, showed that we also have the capacity to be vicariously optimistic on the behalf of our friends. Indeed, about 65% of participants showed vicarious optimism for their friend.</p>
<h2>Good vs bad people</h2>
<p>But this was only one piece to the puzzle. We know that the more we care about another person, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920798">the more intensely we experience their emotions</a>. We therefore wanted to know if the extent to which people care about another person drives vicarious optimism.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206536/original/file-20180215-131013-868q6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Does the president of Mexico feel optimism for Donald Trump?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ruperto miller/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>To test this idea, we presented another group of participants with anonymous descriptions of people and their behaviour. Here we introduced two fictional individuals – Person X and Person Y. We told participants that they had each received £20 and had been asked how much they would be willing to give up to save another participant from painful electric shocks. Person X was willing to give up almost all of the money, whereas Person Y didn’t want to give up any. </p>
<p>All participants then did the vicarious optimism task again – this time estimating how likely it was for Person X and Person Y to experience negative life events. As we expected, participants showed strong vicarious optimism for Person X – the nice one – but not for Person Y.</p>
<p>This finding, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797617737129">also published in Psychological Science</a>, is also in line with one of the most important rules in storytelling: make people care. Once people care about the heroes of the story, they are willing to give up common sense, ignore the bad news and stay invested in the characters.</p>
<h2>Generosity and optimism</h2>
<p>The reactions of the more than 1,000 people in total tested in our studies show that humans are able to feel optimism for both friends and strangers – in line with how much they care for the person.</p>
<p>But does vicarious optimism have any implications in real life? We thought that just like optimism for the self often provides motivation to do something, vicarious optimism might provide the hope that supports helping. Feeling that there is hope for another person’s future might fuel people’s motivation to help them now. </p>
<p>And, indeed, we discovered that people who show vicarious optimism for a stranger were willing to donate almost three times as much money to a charity supporting people similar to that stranger compared to people who were pessimistic about the future of that stranger.</p>
<p>It really is good news: vicarious optimism exists and it matters for fiction as well as for real life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Kappes received funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Oxford Martin School. </span></em></p>Study challenges our understanding of optimism as being a self-centered phenomenon.Andreas Kappes, Lecturer, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/682682016-11-09T00:44:32Z2016-11-09T00:44:32ZDoes it really pay to be generous?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145054/original/image-20161108-16702-u5tsu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Being generous may be more important than you think.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kar Tr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do you look for in a partner? Surely that depends on what the partner is for – you’d probably want a business partner to be innovative, a choir buddy to be musical and a romantic partner to be attractive and funny. But how do such qualities and skills compare with simply being decent, as in fair and generous? </p>
<p>Humans are unusually prosocial – we <a href="https://theconversation.com/sino-tibetan-populations-shed-light-on-human-cooperation-49469">routinely cooperate with non-relatives</a> to an extent that far surpasses that of any other living creature. Nevertheless, there is a significant downside to helping others: the risk of being suckered by a cheating individual – someone who takes the benefits of cooperation without contributing to the pot. Understanding how humans form mutually productive relationships, while at the same time avoiding social parasites, is the key to understanding the evolution of extreme sociality in humans.</p>
<p>Reputation – a signal about your previous behaviour that observers can use to infer how you might behave in the future – <a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738182.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199738182-e-22">lies at the heart of the issue</a>. One major reason why individuals care about and invest in their reputation is because we evaluate and choose partners for social and romantic interactions on the basis of this information. </p>
<p>From an evolutionary point of view, we should use this clue to pick the best partners for whatever interaction we are doing. But what does best actually mean? The best partner could be one who is the most able to give you things, such as a business partner with great wealth, knowledge and contacts. Or the best person may be someone slightly lower achieving who is more open to share the qualities they have – in other words the most generous. </p>
<p>In many cases, ability and willingness to give might be correlated – it is easy to be generous if you have plentiful resources. But what if they don’t line up so neatly? Do we prefer the “highest quality” partners even if they’re a bit stingy, or do we go for “lower quality” but fairer individuals?</p>
<h2>Dictator game</h2>
<p>To find out, we recruited 788 participants from an online crowdsourcing website to take part in an online, modified version of a classic anthropological experiment: <a href="https://www.coll.mpg.de/pdf_dat/2010_07online.pdf">the dictator game</a>. This is a simple economic task used to gauge prosocial tendency. Individuals interact in pairs as “dictators” and “receivers”. Dictators are given some money and told that they can give as much (or as little) as they like to receivers. Receivers have no control over the allocation and must accept any offer the dictator makes. </p>
<p>Our dictator game was modified in a few important ways, to allow us to determine how people trade off ability versus willingness to give when choosing partners. First, we gave rich dictators five times as much money to share with receivers compared to their poorer counterparts, meaning rich ones could offer higher absolute payoffs – even when relatively stingy. We also modified wealth stability. In stable environments, the rich stayed rich and the poor stayed poor, whereas in unstable environments, current wealth was not predictive of wealth in the next game. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145021/original/image-20161108-16733-1qeq1b3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Would you want Donald Trump as your business partner?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Finally, receivers could choose or avoid dictators on the basis of their reputation for having been fair or stingy in the previous game. Receivers observed the decisions made by two different dictators in a first game – and then decided which of these individuals they would like to choose as their own partner in a second game. We were especially interested in how receivers prioritised wealth over fairness in a partner when these traits were opposed to one another.</p>
<p>The results, <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsos.160510">published in Royal Society Open Science</a>, were striking. As expected, when wealth and fairness were aligned (for example, when choosing between rich-fair and poor-fair partners), receivers typically picked the rich partner – and this preference was especially pronounced in stable environments. When choosing between rich-stingy and poor-fair partners, however, the majority of receivers preferred the poorer partner – even in stable environments where the poor tended to stay poor (57% did this). This was despite the fact that they had an expected payoff reduction of almost 25%. As expected, receivers showed an even stronger preference for poor-fair over rich-stingy dictators in unstable environments, with over 85% choosing the poorer partner.</p>
<h2>Generosity in the real world</h2>
<p>The decision rules we use to select partners might not be economically rational, but they are probably ecologically rational, in that they somehow increase fitness in the environment that they were selected in.</p>
<p>But is there evidence that humans actually operate like this in the real world? Some <a href="http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(15)00021-5/abstract">evidence from hunter-gatherer societies</a> has shown that generosity is indeed more important than hunting skills in determining the popularity of hunters within their social networks. The best hunters may catch more meat, but it is those who share what they catch who are preferred as hunting partners. Our study supports these findings: ability to give is valuable, but willingness to give is indispensable.</p>
<p>And could it hold true for romantic relationships? It’s hard to do the exact same experiment with the most common things we look for in a partner – such as intelligence, humour and good looks – as these tend to be much more stable traits than wealth. But, in the experiment, the majority of people picked poor-fair partners over rich-stingy even when wealth was unchangeable. So there may be a similar pattern in dating where generosity or fairness could trump looks or intelligence. Future work could explore the relative importance of these traits when it comes to dating.</p>
<p>Other qualities, such as wealth or social status, tend to be more changeable over time and therefore a better analogy when it comes to dating. Status may for example change during transitions in life – you may have high status in high school but not in university. We’d certainly predict that people will value fairness more than social status during such transition times, and will value social status more when those successes are stable across time and situations.</p>
<p>So the next time you find yourself in a social situation where you’re keen to make an impression, being fair and generous is a good place to start. There’s every chance it could pay off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nichola Raihani receives funding from The Royal Society. </span></em></p>‘Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen’ will not make you popular, according to new research.Nichola Raihani, Senior Research Associate in Life Sciences, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.