A few nights ago, Virginia Heinen, a U. Kansas junior, agreed to add an extra couple of hours onto her shift at On The Rocks Discount Liquor so her sick coworker could go home.
“She wasn’t feeling well, and I really didn’t mind staying for an extra couple of hours,” Heinen said.
However, not every student on campus would have been so generous.
To understand just why that is, three KU researchers are now studying what makes some people act generously while others do not.
The study is funded by a two-year grant from the University of Notre Dame’s Science of Generosity Initiative.
The researchers are Omri Gillath, an assistant professor of social psychology, Ruth Ann Atchley, associate professor of cognative psychology and Mohamed El-Hodiri, professor of economics.
Gillath defined generosity as “the act of giving,” which does not have to include donating money.
He said anything anyone does throughout the day can be done generously. Examples could include professors spending an extra 10 minutes with students after class or residents doing service within the community.
Gillath said the researchers want to find out who is more likely to be generous. He said the trio is also interested in finding a connection among generosity and a person’s sense of security.
“We’re focusing on attachment theory, which suggests that if you feel more secure in your relationships you feel loved and cared about, and if you feel there are people out there that will help you when you need it, you’re more likely to be generous yourself,” Gillath said.
Heinen said she has a great support system in her life, filled with great friends, family and coworkers.
“I love everyone I work with. We’re just like a group of friends, so it was almost like doing a favor for a friend,” Heinen said. “And I know she would do the same for me.”
The research will take many different forms, ranging from self-report questionnaires to studying participants’ brain activities.
Gillath said the neuroscientific aspects of the research would allow him and his collegues to look into specific areas of the brain that are active when a person performs a generous act. For example, the researchers would be able to tell whether behaving generously makes individuals feel happy, sad, exhilarated or simply relaxed.
Ultimately, the researchers hope they would be able to use the findings to spur generosity.
“Especially during these hard economic times, being able to encourage generosity and to get people to think about others is something very important,” Gillath said.
Gillath said the first steps of the research have already been completed, and the researchers received some encouraging results.
El-Hodiri said that he is enthusiastic about the research, regardless of what specifics the team is able to learn.
“If we can find, deep in the recesses of our brains, a way to re-humanize people, then maybe we are up to something,” El-Hodiri said. “I enjoy the ride, anyway.”