healthbriefs


kindness is contagious Pass it on T


he best gift of all can be as simple as an act of kindness, generosity


and cooperation. Even better, we hope that our good acts may spread. Now, a study published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the first laboratory evi- dence that kind behavior is indeed con- tagious and that it spreads from person to person. In short, the researchers found that when just a few people benefit from kindness, they pay it forward by helping others who were not originally involved. This cascade of cooperation can influ- ence many known and unknown partici- pants in a broadening social network. Here’s how researchers at the Uni-


versity of California, San Diego (UCSD), and Harvard University illustrated the principle: When one person gave money to help others in a public-goods game where people had the opportunity to co- operate, the recipients were more likely to give away their own money to other people in subsequent games. This type of behavior created a


domino effect, in which one person’s generosity spread first to three people, then to nine and then to others in sub- sequent waves of the experiment. Better yet, the effect of being part of such a kindness circle persists, observes James Fowler, associate professor at UCSD, who co-led the study, observing, “You don’t go back to being your old selfish self.”


20 NA Triangle www.natriangle.com Natural awakenings vertical half Nov-10 outline.indd 1 11/2/2010 11:51:33 AM


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