Be (the) Kind(est)

When I was younger I was known for my kindness. It was the thing that my parents pushed me the most to be.

It is my favorite Kantian principle in the world. For those who are unfamiliar, Kant's categorical imperitive views ethical dilemas from the perspective of "if this idea were to be universalized, what would be the outcome?". I think it's pretty objective the result of this scenario.

Our lives would be significantly better. But how much better?

A lot better.

I'd like to prove it to you.

For one, people never realize how far being kind actually goes. If you are ever looking for a utilitarian reason to be more kind, look no further than UT's own Professor Amit Kumar's research.

In his experiment, people were given hot chocolate at a park and could give it to a stranger, and compared it to studies where people actually were told to give out specific gifts to people, assumingly more meaningful. On a scale from 1-10, givers predicted hot big their act of simply giving hot chocolate would make the recipients. Their answers averaged out to 3.76, while recipients rated it above a 7.

A 2018 study showed that being kind makes the person performing the kindness happier as well. 27 experimental studies involving 4,045 people showed performing acts of kindness produced a statistically significant improvement in the giver's well-being, with an effect size of about d = 0.28, which the authors characterize as small-to-medium. Importantly, they found no evidence of publication bias in the included studies.

James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis analyzed experimental public-goods games in which participants interacted with different strangers over time. When one person behaved more generously, the people affected subsequently became more generous with other people, who in turn influenced others. The effect spread through the experimental network by as much as three degrees of separation. The researchers estimated that an additional contribution in the first round ultimately generated roughly three times as much additional giving through the downstream cascade.

There are even hints that kindness affects biological stress processes. In a randomized controlled trial of 182 adults, participants spent four weeks either performing three kind acts for other people, three kind acts for themselves, or simply recording daily activities. Those assigned to perform kindness toward others showed reductions in expression of a stress-related immune-system gene profile CTRA (Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity) compared with controls.

A 2026 study of 134 toddlers averaging about 20 months old found that the children displayed greater happiness after giving treats to another than after receiving treats themselves.

Across five studies, Erica Boothby and Vanessa Bohns found that people giving compliments consistently underestimated how good the compliment would make the recipient feel and overestimated how uncomfortable or bothered the recipient would be.

I don't feel like going on and on, but you get the gist.

Kindess is often blind to those giving it. But it always provides more content to your life.