(16) Characterizing Kindness: The Associations Between the Nature of Prosocial Behavior and Well-Being

     Previous research has shown the benefits of acts of kindness (i.e., prosocial behavior) to promote well being (Nelson et al., 2016; Nelson et al., 2014; Pressman et al., 2014). However, few studies have examined the... [ view full abstract ]

     Previous research has shown the benefits of acts of kindness (i.e., prosocial behavior) to promote well being (Nelson et al., 2016; Nelson et al., 2014; Pressman et al., 2014). However, few studies have examined the characteristics of different acts of kindness (e.g., the extent to which they are social). Participants (N = 159) in this study were randomly assigned to do 3 acts of kindness for others (other-kindness), to do 3 acts of kindness to improve the world (world-kindness), to do 3 acts of kindness for themselves (self-kindness), or to complete activity lists (control) each week for 4 weeks. Three independent coders rated the behavioral reports of the kind acts for the extent to which they were social and selfless, whether they involved spending money, and the amount of time and effort involved. Acts of other-kindness were characterized as social, selfless, and high in effort; acts of world-kindness involved spending little money and were more social than self-kindness; and acts of self-kindness were time consuming, involved spending money, and entailed a high amount of effort. In addition, these characteristics of kind acts were differentially related to well being across conditions. These data suggest that the nature of acts of kindness has important implications for well being improvements.