Small acts of kindness, big mental health impact
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- If you want to feel better, new research shows you should do something nice for someone else.
Cornell University revealed that it's not money that makes people more happy, it's acts of kindness.
Dr. Anthony Burrow, psychology professor at Cornell, says small acts of contribution or kindness can have a big impact on mental health.
Kind behavior releases dopamine, serotonin, and endogenous opioids.
It enhances the release of oxytocin, strengthening bonds between people.
Being kind boosts the production of feel-good hormones.
Acts of kindness can reduce self-consciousness in public settings, leading to less depression and anxiety.
Results from a six-year study out of Cornell add to some already compelling evidence that the most efficient route to human flourishing may be a lot simpler than we’ve been making it. While there’s no magic solution when it comes to our well-being, it seems a pretty easy exercise, with both mental and physical health benefits.
Since 2019, Burrow and his researchers have selected about 1,200 college and high school students to receive $400 no-strings contributions to use “to pursue what matters most” to them — something that benefits their community, family or even themselves. Before awarding the funds (eligible recipients are selected randomly, not on the merits of their proposals), he tests all applicants based on standard measures of well-being and emotions. Six to eight weeks after awarding the $400 — the time during which the recipients have to make their contributions — he again tests those who received the funds and those who didn’t.
At the start, both groups typically scored the same on psychological measures. Eight weeks later, those who received the contributions scored significantly higher than the non-recipients on all measures: latent well-being, sense of purpose, sense of belonging, sense of feeling needed and useful, and affective balance (a measure of positive and negative emotions)
“Invite people to think about a contribution they want to make and help them make that contribution, and that person may walk around with greater purpose than if they hadn’t done that," Dr. Burrows says.
This is good news for a supposedly lost generation, because it suggests that deep down Gen Zers are as purposeful as members of previous generations and that it doesn’t take much to cultivate that innate sense. It’s an exercise parents can replicate to cultivate purpose in their own kids (more about that below) and schools could adopt at little cost to cultivate happier and more driven students.
Research shows kind behavior releases dopamine, serotonin, and endogenous opioids.
It enhances the release of oxytocin, strengthening bonds between people. Being kind boosts the production of feel-good hormones. Acts of kindness can also reduce self-consciousness in public settings, leading to less depression and anxiety.
