Generosity, a value that makes you feel good according to science
Education involves more than transmitting knowledge. In this process values are also inculcated that will suppose the way in which the child understands life. The generosity is part of this list to teach the little ones. If there were no reasons for parents to inculcate their children the need to be kind in a disinterested way with others, now science provides a new reason for it.
A group of researchers from the University of Lübeck, Germany, have found a mechanism in the brain of people that is activated when you are generous. A connection that makes those who are kind to those around them rewarded in their brain making them feel happier and fuller. One more reason to instill this value in children.
How much would you spend on your acquaintances?
Those responsible for this work brought together a total of 50 participants that were divided into two random groups. All are allocated 25 Swiss francs every seven days and for four weeks. Half of these volunteers were told that this money was to be spent on themselves. The rest he asked to be used in other people. The latter should detail in those who invested and in what.
After these four weeks, the participants had passed to the second phase of the study where they had to make a decisions in which they should choose a person to make a gift. In the case of the second group it could not be the same individual in whom they had invested the money. While choosing, the researchers measured the changes that occurred in the brain through a functional MRI.
For this, the researchers presented several options that related benefits that were reported to other people and the cost involved, an investment ranging from 3 francs to 25. Those responsible for this work also measured the level of happiness of volunteers through a questionnaire and a scanner cerebral.
The happiness of the generous
The results of both groups confirmed to the researchers that those who in the first phase of this work had used the money in other people were also the ones who made the most generous decisions in the second part. These also showed a greater increase in the feeling of happiness thanks to your generosity.
This is because those who chose the most generous decisions activated the temporal union varietal to a greater extent than the first group and modulated the connections between the two areas, the ventral striate and the parietal temporal junction in a different way. The feeling of reward is more activated in people who choose to behave well with the rest of their circle.
"Commitment works: When people commit to take generous action, how to invest the money received in another person. The parietal temporal union plays an essential role in overcoming personal selfish motives, even if generosity has a cost for one, "explain those responsible for this research, who encourage to instill generosity in our day to day.
Damián Montero
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