Mar 25, 2022 05:54 PM
RELATED THREAD: Being nice is good for us – so why don’t we all do it?
What stops people from being kinder?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220...ing-kinder
EXCERPT: . . . But there are barriers which prevent us from being kinder still and we were keen to explore those in the Kindness Test. When people were asked to rank a list of possible factors which prevented them from carrying out kind acts, the most common reason respondents gave was that they feared they might be misinterpreted. This reminds me of my hesitation to offer to help carry the mattress, not because I didn't want to help, but because I was afraid it might come out the wrong way and cause offence.
Sometimes well-intentioned acts of kindness can be fraught, like offering a seat on the bus to a woman who might or might not be pregnant. And sometimes we fear embarrassment or rejection.
This might explain why the most common kind act that people reported carrying out, was "helping people when they ask". Now that might sound a little grudging. How truly kind is an act if you have to be asked to do it? But to me it seems instructive that this came top. Perhaps we are nervous about offering help, but very happy to do it once we know the person welcomes our assistance.
There's another finding which might shed light on our reticence. The biggest factor associated with kindness wasn't age or income, but personality. We used a scale which measured what are known as the Big Five personality factors. Not surprisingly the kindest people scored high on "agreeableness", but they also scored high on extraversion and openness.
I wonder whether these people feel more able to offer their help, not necessarily because they want to help any more than anyone else, but that their extraversion and their openness (their fondness for new experiences) makes them less fearful of what might happen when they do... (MORE - missing details)
Online 'happiness' classes might work better than you think
https://www.wired.com/story/online-happi...you-think/
EXCERPT: Still, a growing body of evidence suggests that while we might not be able to achieve constant euphoria, improving our sense of well-being and satisfaction is possible. And, as Hood and his coauthors report in an article published in February in PLoS One, these interventions can also be delivered to thousands of students online and be just as effective as the in-person classes Hood started teaching in 2019, before the pandemic.
“These courses are having small effects, but significant effects,” says Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and a coauthor on the study. She is a former student of Hood’s, and she’s the one who came up with the concept for the class. She started teaching her version at Yale in 2018. Called “Psychology and the Good Life,” it’s the most popular class in the school’s history, enrolling more than 1,000 students at a time. Hood decided to try something similar following a disturbing spate of student suicides at Bristol and began offering his version the next year.
These courses don’t teach happiness, per se. Instead, the researchers look at the concept of “positive psychology,” defined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 2000. Rather than treating feelings like depression or anxiety, positive psychology focuses on how to cultivate a sense of satisfaction and purpose in life. Hedonic happiness, which is tied to experiencing pleasurable emotions and sensations, is transitory and ultimately elusive, says Hood. But eudaimonic happiness, which comes from focusing on the value of one’s actions, is more beneficial in the long term. “The approach is to try and direct your attention toward the well-being of others, and that happiness will be the payoff from doing that,” says Hood... (MORE - missing details)
What stops people from being kinder?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220...ing-kinder
EXCERPT: . . . But there are barriers which prevent us from being kinder still and we were keen to explore those in the Kindness Test. When people were asked to rank a list of possible factors which prevented them from carrying out kind acts, the most common reason respondents gave was that they feared they might be misinterpreted. This reminds me of my hesitation to offer to help carry the mattress, not because I didn't want to help, but because I was afraid it might come out the wrong way and cause offence.
Sometimes well-intentioned acts of kindness can be fraught, like offering a seat on the bus to a woman who might or might not be pregnant. And sometimes we fear embarrassment or rejection.
This might explain why the most common kind act that people reported carrying out, was "helping people when they ask". Now that might sound a little grudging. How truly kind is an act if you have to be asked to do it? But to me it seems instructive that this came top. Perhaps we are nervous about offering help, but very happy to do it once we know the person welcomes our assistance.
There's another finding which might shed light on our reticence. The biggest factor associated with kindness wasn't age or income, but personality. We used a scale which measured what are known as the Big Five personality factors. Not surprisingly the kindest people scored high on "agreeableness", but they also scored high on extraversion and openness.
I wonder whether these people feel more able to offer their help, not necessarily because they want to help any more than anyone else, but that their extraversion and their openness (their fondness for new experiences) makes them less fearful of what might happen when they do... (MORE - missing details)
Online 'happiness' classes might work better than you think
https://www.wired.com/story/online-happi...you-think/
EXCERPT: Still, a growing body of evidence suggests that while we might not be able to achieve constant euphoria, improving our sense of well-being and satisfaction is possible. And, as Hood and his coauthors report in an article published in February in PLoS One, these interventions can also be delivered to thousands of students online and be just as effective as the in-person classes Hood started teaching in 2019, before the pandemic.
“These courses are having small effects, but significant effects,” says Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and a coauthor on the study. She is a former student of Hood’s, and she’s the one who came up with the concept for the class. She started teaching her version at Yale in 2018. Called “Psychology and the Good Life,” it’s the most popular class in the school’s history, enrolling more than 1,000 students at a time. Hood decided to try something similar following a disturbing spate of student suicides at Bristol and began offering his version the next year.
These courses don’t teach happiness, per se. Instead, the researchers look at the concept of “positive psychology,” defined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 2000. Rather than treating feelings like depression or anxiety, positive psychology focuses on how to cultivate a sense of satisfaction and purpose in life. Hedonic happiness, which is tied to experiencing pleasurable emotions and sensations, is transitory and ultimately elusive, says Hood. But eudaimonic happiness, which comes from focusing on the value of one’s actions, is more beneficial in the long term. “The approach is to try and direct your attention toward the well-being of others, and that happiness will be the payoff from doing that,” says Hood... (MORE - missing details)