Hurrying to work, we notice a woman trying to drag a stroller up the stairs. And we stop to help. We put the bill in an alms mug, though we’ve never met the old lady holding it before. We see in the hands of a young guy a cardboard box with the inscription “For a ticket to Novosibirsk.” Not knowing if this is true, we still hold out the money. Why are we doing this?
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- Where do altruists come from?
“When we give, we feel happy. This is one of the main paradoxes of the science of happiness, says positive psychologist Sonja Lubomirsky. We are accustomed to looking at happiness as capital. It can be accumulated in the form of things, earned, received from others. Such happiness can be measured and demonstrated (for example, “likes” on social networks). But the more we focus on having what gives us pleasure, the faster this feeling depreciates. Recent studies have shown that when we regularly show kindness to other people, we begin to look at the very source of happiness in a different way. We find it in ourselves. We feel our power, the ability to influence the world and make it better. We strive to maintain this feeling – so we do good again and again.”
TEST: How kind are you