Curiosities about kindness

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Kindness is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It is no exaggeration to say that thanks to the generosity of many people we are here, reading about this. Thus, in this article we will talk about curious facts associated with this virtue.

Kindness is one of the most valuable virtues because it is a source of satisfaction both for those who practice it and for those who benefit from it. The history of humanity is full of cruel episodes, but also of kind acts that have even changed the course of events and completely transformed the lives of many people.

One of the best-known acts of kindness was that of Oskar Schindler, which inspired the famous movie Schindler’s List. This man managed to save the lives of about 1,200 Jews during World War II, putting himself at risk. That’s why he was given the title “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1963.

Another episode in which kindness has shone occurred in 2020. The Irish donated a large amount of money to the Navajo and Hopi families, two indigenous American communities, who were very impoverished by the health crisis. They did so in response to the generosity of these communities, who in 1847, despite being very poor, raised 170 dollars and sent them to Ireland to help during The Great Famine. Let’s see other curiosities about kindness.

Anthropologist Oliver Curry, from the University of Oxford, maintains that kindness is rooted in our essence as a species, since the human being is a social animal.

«“Modern science has not yet produced a calming medicine as effective as a few kind words.”.

-Sigmund Freud-

The theme of our kind nature has been one of the great themes of modern philosophy.

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Some curiosities about kindness

Everything indicates that kindness is “contagious”. Apparently, people tend to be more sensitive to the needs of others when we live in an environment where kindness, consideration and generosity prevail. The well-being produced by these behaviors is enough to inspire, stimulate and reinforce kind behaviors.

Kindness is a virtue of happy people. It is also possible to express it the other way around: happiness induces goodness. In general, doing good to others leads us to feel better about ourselves; At the same time, this nourishes feelings of joy and well-being. Expert Richard Layar, also from the University of Oxford, says it like this: “doing good makes you happier and being happier makes you do kind acts.”

Genetics and kindness

Everything indicates that kindness is also related to genetics. Scientists from the University of Bonn (Germany) carried out research in this regard. They found that people who have a specific gene, called COMT, are twice as kind as those who do not have this genetic component.

Likewise, psychologist Gary Lewis, from the University of Edinburgh, carried out another study that was published in Biology Letters. Researchers studied the behavior of nearly 1,000 identical and non-identical twins. They took into account both the genetic component and the family environment.

The results indicated that In the female twins, the genetic factor influenced their prosocial or kind behaviors by 48%. Meanwhile, in men that influence was only 20%. Although the study is not conclusive, it does suggest the importance of the genetic component.

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On the other hand, it has been detected that kindness and altruistic behaviors are associated with a specific area of the brain called the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex.

The subgenual anterior cingulate appears to be the only area that is activated when a person is doing something that benefits another person more than themselves.

The rabbit effect

The rabbit effect, or the rabit effect, is the title of a book by psychiatrist Kelli Harding, from Columbia University.. This work was inspired by a laboratory accident that occurred in New Zealand. It happened in 1978, when Dr. Robert Nerem was conducting an experiment with rabbits.

What the scientist proposed was to study the relationship between a high-fat diet and heart health in a group of white rabbits. After a while, the researchers analyzed the amount of fat deposits in the animals’ blood vessels. Most of the rabbits had the expected results: high cholesterol levels. However, a small group of specimens were almost healthy.

The surprising result led them to explore several hypotheses. In the end, they concluded that this anomalous result was due to the fact that this group of healthy rabbits had been under the care of a postdoctoral student who had been very affectionate with them. These results have been replicated. That’s how powerful the force of kindness is.