Kindness

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Type of behaviour

title: "Kindness" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["kindness", "14th-century-neologisms", "giving", "virtue", "concepts-in-ethics", "seven-virtues", "fruit-of-the-holy-spirit", "emotions", "moral-psychology", "empathy"] description: "Type of behaviour" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindness" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Type of behaviour ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/People's_Climate_March_2017_in_Washington_DC_35.jpg" caption="Placard for kindness, at the [[People's Climate March (2017)"] ::

Kindness is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without expecting praise or reward in return. It is a subject of interest in philosophy, religion, and psychology.

It can be directed towards one's self or other people, and is present across multiple different species and cultures.

History

In English, the word kindness dates from approximately 1300, though the word's sense evolved to its current meanings in the late 14th century. The word "kindness" comes from the Old English "kyndnes," which is related to "kind," meaning "nature" or "family". This suggests that kindness was initially seen as a natural quality within one's kin.

In society

Human mate choice studies suggest that both men and women value kindness in their prospective mates, along with intelligence, physical appearance, attractiveness, and age.{{multiref2 |1= |2= }}

The New Zealand the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern believed that leadership should espouse kindness when she led the country through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the Whakaari volcanic eruption.

In psychology

Studies at Yale University used games with babies to conclude that kindness is inherent to human beings. There are similar studies about the root of empathy in infancy – with motor mirroring developing in the early months of life, and leading (optimally) to the concern shown by children for their peers in distress.{{cite book|first1=Adam|last1= Phillips|first2=Barbara|last2=Taylor|title=On Kindness|location=London|year=2009}}

Barbara Taylor and Adam Phillips stressed the element of necessary realism in adult kindness, as well as the way "real kindness changes people in the doing of it, often in unpredictable ways".

Behaving kindly may improve a person's measurable well-being. Many studies have tried to test the hypothesis that doing something kind makes a person better off. A meta-analysis of 27 such studies found that the interventions studied (usually measuring short-term effects after brief acts of kindness, in WEIRD research subjects) supported the hypothesis that acting more kindly improves your well-being.

Teaching kindness

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Fifty-fifty_-something_better_than_rolling_Easter_eggs(cropped).jpg" caption="Two children sharing a [[soft drink]] at the [[White House]], 1922."] ::

Kindness is most often taught by parents to children and is learned through observation and some direct teaching. Studies have shown that through programs and interventions kindness can be taught and encouraged during the first 20 years of life. Further studies show that kindness interventions can help improve well-being with comparable results as teaching gratitude. Similar findings have shown that organizational level teaching of kindness can improve the well-being of adults in college.

References

References

  1. "kindness".
  2. McClure, Tess. (2023-04-05). "Jacinda Ardern says leaders can be 'sensitive and kind' in farewell speech". The Guardian.
  3. (May 5, 2010). "Can Babies Tell Right From Wrong?, Babies at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center respond to "naughty" and "nice" puppets". New York Times (TimesVideo).
  4. Goleman, Daniel. (1989-03-28). "Researchers Trace Empathy's Roots to Infancy". New York Times.
  5. Goleman, Daniel. (1996). "Emotional Intelligence". Bloomsbury.
  6. (2018). "Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
  7. Malti, Tina. (2021-09-03). "Kindness: a perspective from developmental psychology". European Journal of Developmental Psychology.
  8. (May 2022). "The effects of gratitude and kindness on life satisfaction, positive emotions, negative emotions, and COVID-19 anxiety: An online pilot experimental study". Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
  9. (June 2022). "The Mental Health Benefits of kind University Climate: Perception of Kindness at University Relates to Longitudinal Increases in Well-Being". Applied Research in Quality of Life.

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kindness14th-century-neologismsgivingvirtueconcepts-in-ethicsseven-virtuesfruit-of-the-holy-spiritemotionsmoral-psychologyempathy