What acts of kindness will make us the happiest, and who tends to benefit the most? A newly-published review of decades of kindness research provides some answers.
In this paper, researchers analyzed the results from 126 research articles looking at almost 200, 000 participants from around the world. The studies they chose measured well-being in various ways, including both mental and physical health. Some were experiments, where people did a kindness practice to observe its effects, while others just surveyed people about how kind and happy they were.
As expected, people who were kind tended to have higher well-being. Lead researcher Bryant Hui was astounded that the relationship wasn't stronger than it was, but he was still encouraged by the results.
One thing Hui and his colleagues found was that people who performed random, informal acts of kindness, like bringing a meal to a sad friend, tended to be happier than people who performed more formal acts of kindness, like volunteering in a soup kitchen.
The researchers also found that people who were kind tended to be higher in "eudaimonic happiness"(a sense of meaning and purpose in life) more than "hedonic happiness"(a sense of pleasure and comfort). Perhaps this makes sense, given that being kind takes effort, which reduces comfort but could make people feel better about themselves and their abilities, which would provide a sense of meaning.
Being kind came with greater eudaimonic happiness for women than for men, too. According to Hui, this could be because, in many cultures, women are expected to be kinder than men; so, they may have more to gain from it. And younger participants experienced more happiness when they were kind than older participants, perhaps for developmental reasons, he says.
Hui isn't sure why acting kind might have these different effects on different groups, but he points to theories put forth by researcher Elizabeth Midlarsky: Being kind may make us feel better about ourselves as a person or about the meaning of our lives, help us forget our own troubles and stresses, or help us be more socially-connected with others.
28. What does the data in the second paragraph intend to show?
A.The recent paper is worthy of being read. | B.The recent paper gives convincing results. |
C.Kindness is always a hot topic of research. | D.Kindness is closely linked to one's well-being. |
29. What does the underlined word "astounded" in paragraph 3 mean?
A.Afraid. | B.Certain. | C.Excited. | D.Surprised. |
30. Which of the following acts of kindness can make one feel happier according to paragraph 4?
A.Volunteering in a hospital. | B.Cleaning a community. |
C.Returning a lost item to its owner. | D.Collecting donations for the poor. |
31. What do the researchers find from the paper?
A.Being kind has different effects on different groups. |
B.Eudaimonic happiness makes people feel comfort. |
C.The younger experienced more happiness than the older. |
D.Female participants are kinder than male ones. |