Positive Psychology on Kindness

As a member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), I attended a fascinating presentation as part of IPPA's quarterly Leaders Series. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a noted positive psychology researcher summarized recent research on happiness.

One of her studies involved acts of kindness. Her research results indicate that performing 3 to 9 varied acts of kindness each week increases happiness as measured by a composite measurement of well-being. She found that variety in acts of kindness is important. A test group that repeated the same acts of kindness each week actually showed a decrease in happiness during the test cycle, though this group subsequently reversed that.

The group performing varied acts of kindness each week showed increased happiness when measured again one month after the study period.

For more information see my full article Positive Psychology Studies on Happiness.