Kindness

{{Short description|Behavior marked by generosity, consideration, assistance, or concern for others}}

{{Redirect|Niceness|the concept in general|Pleasure|"niceness" in Unix and Linux|nice (Unix)}}

{{missing|the philosophical and religious aspects of kindness|date=May 2025}}

File: People's Climate March 2017 in Washington DC 35.jpg]]

Kindness is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without expecting praise or reward in return. It is a subject of interest in philosophy, religion, and psychology.

It can be directed towards one's self or other people, and is present across multiple different species and cultures.

History

In English, the word kindness dates from approximately 1300, though the word's sense evolved to its current meanings in the late 1300s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/kindness|title = kindness |website=Online Etymology Dictionary}}

In society

Human mate choice studies suggest that both men and women value kindness in their prospective mates, along with intelligence, physical appearance, attractiveness, and age.{{multiref2

|1={{cite journal|last=Buss|first=David M.|display-authors=etal|title=Sex differences in jealousy: Evolution, physiology, and psychology|journal=Psychological Science|volume=3|number=4|year=1992|pages=251–255|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00038.x |s2cid=27388562 }}

|2={{cite book|title=Psychology|first1= Henry |last1= Gleitman|first2=James |last2= Gross|first3=Daniel |last3= Reisberg|edition=8th|isbn=9780393932508|publisher=W.W. Norton & co.|year=2011}} }}

In psychology

Studies at Yale University used games with babies to conclude that kindness is inherent to human beings.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/1247467772000/can-babies-tell-right-from-wrong-.html|url-status=dead|title=Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong?, Babies at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center respond to "naughty" and "nice" puppets|work=New York Times (TimesVideo)|date=May 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712065555/https://www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/1247467772000/can-babies-tell-right-from-wrong-.html|archive-date=2015-07-12}} There are similar studies about the root of empathy in infancy{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/28/science/researchers-trace-empathy-s-roots-to-infancy.html?pagewanted=all|url-access=subscription|title=Researchers Trace Empathy's Roots to Infancy|first=Daniel|last=Goleman|date=1989-03-28|page=C1|newspaper=New York Times}} – with motor mirroring developing in the early months of life,{{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Goleman|title=Emotional Intelligence|location=London|year=1996|publisher=Bloomsbury|pages=98–99}} and leading (optimally) to the concern shown by children for their peers in distress.{{cite book|first1=Adam|last1=

Phillips|first2=Barbara|last2=Taylor|title=On Kindness|location=London|year=2009}}{{rp|112}}

Barbara Taylor and Adam Phillips stressed the element of necessary realism{{jargon inline|reason=what is "necessary realism"?|date=August 2023}} in adult kindness, as well as the way "real kindness changes people in the doing of it, often in unpredictable ways".{{r|OK|pages=96 & 12}}

Behaving kindly may improve a person's measurable well-being. Many studies have tried to test the hypothesis that doing something kind makes a person better off. A meta-analysis of 27 such studies found that the interventions studied (usually measuring short-term effects after brief acts of kindness, in WEIRD research subjects) supported the hypothesis that acting more kindly improves your well-being.{{cite journal|first1=Oliver Scott|last1=Curry|first2=Lee A.|last2=Rowland|first3=Caspar J.|last3=Van Lissa|first4=Sally|last4=Zlotowitz|first5=John|last5=McAlaney|first6=Harvey|last6=Whitehouse|title=Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor|journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology|volume=76|year=2018|pages=320–329 |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.014|doi-access=free}}

Teaching kindness

File: Fifty-fifty - something better than rolling Easter eggs (cropped).jpg at the White House, 1922.]]

Kindness is most often taught by parents to children and is learned through observation and some direct teaching. Studies have shown that through programs and interventions kindness can be taught and encouraged during the first 20 years of life.{{Cite journal |last=Malti |first=Tina |date=2021-09-03 |title=Kindness: a perspective from developmental psychology |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17405629.2020.1837617 |journal=European Journal of Developmental Psychology |language=en |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=629–657 |doi=10.1080/17405629.2020.1837617 |s2cid=228970189 |issn=1740-5629|url-access=subscription }} Further studies show that kindness interventions can help improve well-being with comparable results as teaching gratitude.{{Cite journal |last1=Datu |first1=Jesus Alfonso D. |last2=Valdez |first2=Jana Patricia M. |last3=McInerney |first3=Dennis M. |last4=Cayubit |first4=Ryan Francis |date=May 2022 |title=The effects of gratitude and kindness on life satisfaction, positive emotions, negative emotions, and COVID-19 anxiety: An online pilot experimental study |journal=Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being |language=en |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=347–361 |doi=10.1111/aphw.12306 |issn=1758-0846 |pmc=8652666 |pmid=34668323}} Similar findings have shown that organizational level teaching of kindness can improve the well-being of adults in college.{{Cite journal |last1=Datu |first1=Jesus Alfonso D. |last2=Lin |first2=Xunyi |date=June 2022 |title=The Mental Health Benefits of kind University Climate: Perception of Kindness at University Relates to Longitudinal Increases in Well-Being |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-021-09981-z |journal=Applied Research in Quality of Life |language=en |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=1663–1680 |doi=10.1007/s11482-021-09981-z |s2cid=255275797 |issn=1871-2584|url-access=subscription }}

References

External links

{{wiktionary inline|kindness}}
[http://www.kindnessuk.com/ A UK independent, not-for-profit organisation]
[https://www.randomactsofkindness.org Random Acts of Kindness Foundation]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Z-yU999LQ Video with quotes about Kindness], from Wikiquote

Category:Giving

Category:Virtue

Category:Concepts in ethics

Category:Seven virtues

Category:Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Category:Emotions

Category:Moral psychology

Category:Empathy