Step into kindness

"The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune."

There's a key moment in Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol where the ghost of Christmas past takes Mr Scrooge to a humble party at the home of his ex-employer Fezziwig. Quite bowled over by the host's infectious kindness and generosity, Scrooge finds his cold heart starting to melt for the first time. It's a transformative process which eventually brings benefits to his community and workforce, but most importantly to himself. Dickens' conclusion? Being kind to others is good for us.

Psychologist and BPS member Professor Robin Banerjee quite agrees. His work on kindness, which has included this year founding the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness, has shown that there are many psychological benefits in helping others.

"It's one of the big paradoxes of kindness, that an act of kindness that is intended to benefit others, actually has some positive consequences for yourself. There are patterns of activation in the brain that correspond to a boost in wellbeing. The reward pathways in the brain are activated when people are performing kind acts."

The Kindness Test

In 2021 Dr Banerjee led an online study, alongside BBC Radio 4, called the Kindness Test. Over 60,000 people chose to take part and it became the world's largest in-depth study on kindness, coming to some striking conclusions, including:

• The most common kind act is to help people when they ask
• People who talk to strangers see and receive more kindness
• Income makes little difference to how kind people are
• We worry about our offers of kindness being misinterpreted

The holiday season can often be a spur for kind acts – the opportunity to get in touch with someone we've lost contact with, offer hospitality to someone who is lonely, or perhaps volunteer in some way. Such small acts might seem insignificant, but Professor Banerjee believes things like this can have significant consequences.

"The small stuff may actually be the big stuff. All those small things that you figure 'well, they're not that important, it's just people being nice to each other', maybe that's the most important thing for creating an environment which actually enables people to feel good and to be able to work together and to be able to take on some really big challenges."

Practical inspiration

So this Christmas, why not think of a new way to be kind? If you're stumped for ideas, Professor Banerjee knows where to look for suggestions.

"This is traditionally a time for giving, and so it's a great opportunity to remind ourselves of the power of kindness for building social connections and improving wellbeing. But don't forget that kindness to ourselves can go hand in hand with kindness to others.  So here are some activities to help us do just that – courtesy of Freya Smith and Ray Teso Buitrago, our fantastic placement students at the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness."