I’d be interested to know if there’s any psychological research on how niceness and being ethical may be related.
For example, prior to the FTX incident, I didn’t usually give money to beggars, on the grounds that it was ineffective altruism. But now I’m starting to wonder if giving money to beggars is an easy way to cultivate benevolence in oneself, and cultivating benevolence in oneself is an important way to improve as an EA.
Does walking past beggars & rehearsing reasons why you won’t give them money end up corroding your character over time, such that you eventually become comfortable doing what Sam did?
I’d be interested to know if there’s any psychological research on how niceness and being ethical may be related.
There is a plethora of research on the subject, including a growing body of evidence which suggests we are born with a sense of compassion, empathy, and fairness. Paul Bloom has done some amazing research with babies at the Yale psych lab, and more recently the University of Washington published a study suggesting altruism is innate.
“New research by the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, or I-LABS, finds that altruism may begin in infancy. In a study of nearly 100 19-month-olds, researchers found that children, even when hungry, gave a tasty snack to a stranger in need. The findings not only show that infants engage in altruistic behavior, but also suggest that early social experiences can shape altruism.
The study is published online Feb. 4 in Scientific Reports, an open-access journal from the Nature Publishing Group.
“We think altruism is important to study because it is one of the most distinctive aspects of being human. It is an important part of the moral fabric of society,” said Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, a postdoctoral researcher at I-LABS and lead author on the study. “We adults help each other when we see another in need and we do this even if there is a cost to the self. So we tested the roots of this in infants.”
Additionally, I’m pasting part of an article here that I found interesting, and it has several relevant studies linked within. I hope this helps.
Being kind is not only the right thing to do—it’s also good for our physical and mental health. Psychologists have found that performing acts of generosity boosts happiness and well-being and is even linked to physical health benefits, including lower blood pressure (Curry, O. S., et al., Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 76, 2018; Hui, B. P. H., et al., Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 146, No. 12, 2020).
Both small acts, such as holding the door for a stranger, petting an animal, or bringing coffee to a colleague, and larger favors, such as helping a friend move, can have an impact, said Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, a professor of psychology and director of the Positive Activities and Well-Being Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside. Prosocial behavior toward friends, strangers, and oneself—and even observing or recalling kind acts—have all been shown to increase well-being (Rowland, L. & Curry, O. S., The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 159, No. 3, 2019; The Journal of Positive Psychology, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2021; Emotion, Vol. 16, No. 6, 2016).
Not all acts of generosity are created equal. Giving directly to a person or proxy—for instance, donating face-to-face to a charity rather than contributing online or taking a friend out to dinner rather than sending them a meal—offers an opportunity for social connectedness that’s particularly beneficial, said Lara Aknin, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, who directs the Helping and Happiness Lab.
“When people give in ways that are more socially connected or relational, that seems to better unlock these emotional rewards,” she said.
People also reap more benefits from kind behavior when they’ve chosen to be kind, rather than being required to do so, and when they feel that their actions have had a positive impact ( Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 88, 2013).
On top of the psychological gains, research also ties helping behavior to better physical health. One study tracked more than 7,000 U.S. adults, finding that those who volunteered engaged in more preventive health behaviors than those who did not (Kim, E. S. & Konrath, S. H., Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 149, 2016). In another study, older adults who spent money on others had lower blood pressure than those who spent money on themselves (Whillans, A. V., et al., Health Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 6, 2016). Another
Lyubomirsky and her colleagues even found that people who performed acts of kindness—anything involving helping, sharing, or caring for others—showed improvements in gene expression associated with a healthier immune profile (Psychoneuroendocrinology, Vol. 81, 2017).
On the flip side, here is an interesting article by a Stanford professor explaining why arrogance is the biggest risk to unethical behavior for organizations:
“Arrogance is one of the most dangerous drivers of unethical behavior. It is almost always present in one form or another when scandal erupts.”
“The reason arrogance occupies a top slot in ethics risk rankings is that it generates, and exacerbates, almost all of the other drivers of unethical behavior.”
I don’t think that not giving beggars money corrodes your character, though I do think giving beggars money improves it. This can easily be extended from “giving beggars money” to “performing any small, not highly effective good deed”. Personally, it was getting into a habit of doing regular good deeds, however small or “ineffective” that moved me from “I intellectually agree with EA, but...maybe later” to “I am actually going to give 10% of my money away”. I still actively look for opportunities to do small good deeds for that reason—investing in one’s own character pays immense dividends over time, whether EA-flavored or not, and is thus a good thing to do for its own sake.
I’d be interested to know if there’s any psychological research on how niceness and being ethical may be related.
For example, prior to the FTX incident, I didn’t usually give money to beggars, on the grounds that it was ineffective altruism. But now I’m starting to wonder if giving money to beggars is an easy way to cultivate benevolence in oneself, and cultivating benevolence in oneself is an important way to improve as an EA.
Does walking past beggars & rehearsing reasons why you won’t give them money end up corroding your character over time, such that you eventually become comfortable doing what Sam did?
H/T these tweets.
There is a plethora of research on the subject, including a growing body of evidence which suggests we are born with a sense of compassion, empathy, and fairness. Paul Bloom has done some amazing research with babies at the Yale psych lab, and more recently the University of Washington published a study suggesting altruism is innate.
A brief overview of Paul Bloom’s work:
The Moral Life of Babies, Yale Psychology Professor Paul Bloom finds the origins of morality in infants
More on the study from the University of Washington:
Additionally, I’m pasting part of an article here that I found interesting, and it has several relevant studies linked within. I hope this helps.
On the flip side, here is an interesting article by a Stanford professor explaining why arrogance is the biggest risk to unethical behavior for organizations:
I don’t think that not giving beggars money corrodes your character, though I do think giving beggars money improves it. This can easily be extended from “giving beggars money” to “performing any small, not highly effective good deed”. Personally, it was getting into a habit of doing regular good deeds, however small or “ineffective” that moved me from “I intellectually agree with EA, but...maybe later” to “I am actually going to give 10% of my money away”. I still actively look for opportunities to do small good deeds for that reason—investing in one’s own character pays immense dividends over time, whether EA-flavored or not, and is thus a good thing to do for its own sake.