In advance of World Kindness Day, kindness.org announced that recent studies conducted in collaboration with Oxford University show the warm fuzzy feeling you get by being kind isn’t just in your head. Data from three studies conducted within the last year shows that performing acts of kindness increases the overall well-being of the performer.
One experiment completed in April 2017 involved 691 participants from 39 countries and investigated kindness to family, friends, strangers and self. Participants performed acts of kindness every day for seven days. Data from the experiment showed that kindness to all groups had a positive effect on the kind person’s happiness, life satisfaction, compassion, trust, positivity regarding humanity, and social connection. Furthermore, the benefits increased as the number of kind acts performed increased.
“These findings are supported by multiple experiments, and have been confirmed by a meta-analysis we conducted in 2016 of more than 25 separate studies by other research teams,” said Oxford University research associate and kindlab research psychologist Dr. Lee Rowland.
“We set out to confirm, via science, that even the smallest acts of kindness can impact societies. The data continues to strongly support our hypothesis, and we’re excited to continue exploring this idea through our community and our research collaborations with Oxford University,” said kindness.org co-founder Jaclyn Lindsey.
A Call for Kindness Around the World: On The Streets, Online and At Work
The findings were announced in conjunction with the global celebration of World Kindness Day on November 13th. Kindness.org aims to spread awareness of the science of kindness through a new campaign called “Sincerely, Kindness.” Launching on November 13th, the campaign includes kindness walls in New York, London, and Cape Town, as well as digital and video content and corporate participants who want to celebrate kindness at work.
The kindness walls across the globe are an interactive way for people from all walks of life to declare their intention to authentically give and receive kindness. Visitors to New York’s Times Square can visit the kindness wall designed by Brooklyn muralist Jennet Liaw at the pedestrian plaza on Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets. Those who are not in New York, London or Cape Town can go to www.kindness.org where they can pledge to perform acts of kindness and sign up to participate in kindlab, the organization’s research arm.
Acknowledging the importance of kindness in the workplace and on the internet, corporate partners SoulCycle, BOND Collective, Energi Life, and Ogilvy, NY have also signed on to deploy kindness walls in their offices and spread kindness on their channels.
Since launching a year ago the kindness.org community of more than 175,000 members has performed 55,000 acts of kindness. Participants from nearly 40 countries have taken part in the 7 Days of Intentional Kindness studies, and each day the platform continues to reach new audiences through social media and the community of passionate doers.
Kindness.org launched its digital platform in 2016 and blends user action and technology, and funds independent, high-quality research to explore the impact of kindness and whether it can be used to solve some of society’s most pressing issues.
