Compassion: Our First Instinct

Decades of clinical research have focused on and shed light on the psychology of human suffering. That suffering, as unpleasant as it is, often also has a bright side to which research has paid less attention: compassion. Human suffering is frequently accompanied by beautiful acts of compassion from others who wish to help ease it. What led 26.5% of Americans to volunteer in 2012 (according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics)? What drives someone to serve food at a homeless shelter, to stop on the road in the rain to help someone with a broken-down vehicle, or to feed a lost cat?

What Is Compassion?

What is compassion and how is it different from empathy or altruism? The definition of compassion is often confused with that of empathy. Empathy, as defined by researchers, is the visceral or emotional experience of another person's feelings. It is, in a sense, an automatic mirroring of someone else's emotion, like absorbing a friend's sadness. Altruism is an action that benefits another person. It may or may not be accompanied by empathy or compassion; for example, making a donation for tax purposes. Though these terms relate to compassion, they are not identical. Often, compassion involves an empathetic response and altruistic behavior. Yet compassion is defined as the emotional response to perceiving suffering and involves a genuine desire to help.

Is Compassion Natural or Learned?

Though economists have long argued otherwise, a growing body of evidence suggests that at our core, both animals and humans possess what Dacher Keltner at the University of California, Berkeley, calls a "compassionate instinct." In other words, compassion is a natural and automatic response that ensured our survival. Research by Jean Decety at the University of Chicago has shown that even rats are moved to sympathize with another rat that suffers and will go out of their way to help the other resolve its problem. Studies with chimpanzees and very young human infants, too young to have learned rules of courtesy, also support these claims. Michael Tomasello and other scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany discovered that infants and chimpanzees spontaneously engage in helpful behaviors and even overcome obstacles to do so. They apparently act this way from intrinsic motivation without expectation of reward. A recent study they conducted indicated that pupil diameters (a measure of attention) decrease when they help and when they see someone helping, suggesting they are not simply helping because helping is rewarding. It appears to be the relief of suffering that brings reward, whether they engage in the helping behavior themselves or not. Recent research by David Rand at Harvard University shows that the first impulse of adults and children is to help others. In fact, when we are pressed for time, our first impulse is to help others, research by Francesca Righetti at VU University of Amsterdam suggests. Research by Dale Miller at Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests this is also true for adults; however, concern that others might think they are acting out of self-interest can block this impulse to help.

It is unsurprising that compassion is a natural tendency, since it is essential to human survival. As Keltner has brought to light, the phrase "survival of the fittest," often attributed to Charles Darwin, was actually coined by Herbert Spencer and social Darwinists who wished to justify class and racial superiority. A lesser-known fact is that Darwin's work is better described by the phrase "survival of the kindest." In fact, in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin argued in favor of "the greater strength of the social or maternal instincts than that of any other instinct or reason." In another passage, he remarks that "communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring." Compassion may indeed be a naturally evolved and adaptive trait. Without it, the survival and flourishing of our species would have been unlikely.

Another sign suggesting that compassion is an adaptively developed trait is that it makes us more attractive to potential partners. A study examining the most valued characteristic in possible romantic partners suggests that men and women agree that "kindness" is one of the most highly desirable traits.

Surprising Benefits of Compassion for Physical and Psychological Health

Compassion may have ensured our survival because of its enormous benefits for physical and mental health and overall wellbeing. Research by Ed Diener, an APS William James Fellow and leading researcher in positive psychology, and Martin James Seligman, an APS James McKeen Cattell Fellow and pioneer of the psychology of happiness and human flourishing, suggests that connecting with others in meaningful ways helps us enjoy better mental and physical health and accelerates recovery from illness. Moreover, research by Stephanie Brown at Stony Brook University and Sara Konrath at the University of Michigan has shown that it may even extend our life expectancy.

The reason why a compassionate lifestyle leads to greater psychological wellbeing can be explained by the fact that the act of giving appears to be as pleasurable, if not more so, than the act of receiving. A brain imaging study led by neuroscientist Jordan Grafman at the National Institutes of Health showed that the "pleasure centers" in the brain, that is, the parts of the brain that are active when we experience pleasure (such as dessert, money, and sex), are equally active when we observe someone giving money to charity as when we receive money ourselves. Giving to others increases wellbeing beyond what we experience when we spend money on ourselves. In a revealing experiment by Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia, participants received a sum of money and half were instructed to spend it on themselves; the other half were told to spend it on others. At the end of the study, which was published in the journal Science, participants who spent money on others felt significantly happier than those who had spent money on themselves.

This is true even for children. A study by Lara Aknin and colleagues at the University of British Columbia shows that even in children as young as two years old, giving gifts to others increases the happiness of the givers more than receiving gifts themselves. Even more surprisingly, the fact that giving makes us happier than receiving is true worldwide, regardless of whether countries are rich or poor. A new study by Aknin, now at Simon Fraser University, shows that the amount of money spent on others (and not for personal benefit) and personal wellbeing were highly correlated, regardless of income, social support, perceived freedom, and national perception of corruption.

Why Is Compassion Good for Us?

Why does compassion lead to health benefits in particular? A clue to this question lies in a fascinating new study by Steve Cole at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Barbara Fredrickson, an APS Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results were reported by Stanford Medical School's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) in 2012. The study assessed levels of cellular inflammation in people who describe themselves as "very happy." Inflammation is at the root of cancer and other diseases and is typically high in people living under considerable stress. We might expect inflammation to be lower for people with higher levels of happiness. Cole and Fredrickson found that this was only the case for certain "very happy" people. They discovered that people who were happy because they lived the "good life" (sometimes also known as "hedonic happiness") showed high levels of inflammation, but conversely, people who were happy because they lived a life with purpose or meaning (sometimes also known as "eudaimonic happiness") showed low levels of inflammation. A life of meaning and purpose is less focused on satisfying oneself and more focused on satisfying others. It is a life rich in compassion, altruism, and higher purpose.

Another way a compassionate lifestyle can improve longevity is that it can serve as a buffer against stress. In a new study conducted on a large population (over 800 people) and led by the University of Buffalo, Michael Poulin found that stress did not predict mortality in those who helped others, but it did in those who did not. One reason compassion may protect against stress is the fact that it is so pleasurable. Motivation, however, seems to play an important role in predicting whether a compassionate lifestyle exerts a beneficial impact on health. Sara Konrath at the University of Michigan found that people who engaged in volunteering lived longer than their peers who did not volunteer, but only if their reasons for volunteering were altruistic and not selfish.

Another reason compassion can boost our wellbeing is that it can help broaden our perspective beyond ourselves. Research shows that depression and anxiety are linked to a state of self-focus, a preoccupation with "me, me, and me." When you do something for another person, however, that state of self-focus shifts to a state of "other-focus." You may remember a time when you felt depressed and suddenly a friend or close family member asked for your urgent help with a problem, and you may recall that as your attention shifted to helping them, your mood improved. Instead of feeling down, you may have felt energized to help; before you knew it, you may have even felt better and gained some perspective on your own situation as well.

Finally, an additional way compassion can boost our wellbeing is by increasing our sense of connection with others. A revealing study showed that lack of social connection represents a major health detriment, greater than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. On the other hand, strong social connection leads to a 50 percent increase in the chance of longevity. Social connection strengthens our immune system (Cole's research shows that genes affected by social connection also code for immune function and inflammation), helps us recover from illness more quickly, and may even extend our lives. People who feel more connected with others have lower rates of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, studies show that they also have greater self-esteem, are more empathetic toward others, more confident and cooperative, and as a result, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them. Social connection, therefore, generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional, and physical wellbeing. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true for those without social connection. Low social connection has generally been associated with declines in physical and psychological health, as well as a greater propensity for antisocial behavior that leads to increased isolation. Adopting a compassionate lifestyle or cultivating compassion can help increase social connection and improve physical and psychological health.

Why Compassion Really Has the Capacity to Change the World

Why are the lives of people like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Desmond Tutu so inspiring? Research by Jonathan Haidt, an APS Fellow at the University of Virginia, suggests that witnessing someone helping another person creates a state of "elevation." Have you ever been moved to tears by witnessing someone's loving and compassionate behavior? Haidt's data suggest that this elevation inspires us to help others and may be the force behind a chain reaction of giving. Haidt showed that corporate leaders who engage in self-sacrificing behaviors and provoke "elevation" in their employees also produce greater influence among employees, who become more committed and in turn may act with more compassion in the workplace. In fact, compassion is contagious. Social scientists James Fowler at the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas Christakis at Harvard have demonstrated that helping is contagious: acts of generosity and kindness generate more generosity in a chain reaction of goodwill. You may have seen news reports about chain reactions that occur when someone pays for the coffee of the drivers behind them at a drive-through restaurant or highway toll booth. People sustain the generous behavior for hours. Our acts of compassion lift the spirits of others and make them happy. We may not realize it, but in uplifting others, we are also helping ourselves. Fowler and Christakis's research showed that happiness spreads and that if the people around us are happy, we become happier.

Cultivating Compassion

Though compassion appears to be a naturally evolved instinct, some training can help. Several studies have shown that a variety of compassion meditation and loving-kindness practices, primarily derived from traditional Buddhist practices, can help cultivate compassion. Cultivating compassion does not require years of study and can be triggered quite quickly. In a study that Cendri Hutcherson at the California Institute of Technology and I conducted in 2008 with James Gross, an APS Fellow at Stanford, we found that a seven-minute intervention was sufficient to increase feelings of closeness and connection with the meditation target on both explicit measures and also on implicit measures in which participants could not voluntarily control their responses. This suggests that their sense of connection shifted at a deep level. Fredrickson tested a nine-week loving-kindness meditation intervention and found that participants who went through the intervention experienced increased daily positive emotions, reduced depressive symptoms, and increased life satisfaction. A group led by Sheethal Reddy at Emory with adoptive children showed that a compassion intervention increased children's sense of hope. Overall, research on compassion interventions shows improvements in psychological wellbeing, compassion, and social connection.

Beyond questionnaire measures, researchers are discovering that compassion interventions also influence behavior. Tania Singer, an APS Fellow, and her team at the Max Planck Institute conducted a study that examined the effects of compassion training on prosocial behavior. These researchers developed the Zurich Prosocial Game, which has the ability to measure an individual's prosocial behavior multiple times, unlike many other prosocial tasks that measure prosocial behavior in individuals only once. Singer found that one day of compassion training increased prosocial behavior in the game. Interestingly, the type of meditation seems to matter less than simply the act of meditating itself. Condon, Miller, Desbordes, and DeSteno found that eight-week meditation trainings led participants to act with more compassion toward a person who is suffering (giving up their chair for someone on crutches), regardless of the type of meditation they practiced (mindfulness or compassion).

More research is needed to understand exactly how compassion training improves wellbeing and promotes altruistic behavior. Research by Antoine Lutz and Richard Davidson, an APS William James Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that during meditation, participants display enhanced emotional processing in brain regions linked to empathy in response to emotionally evocative cries. A study led by Gaëlle Desbordes at Massachusetts General Hospital indicated that both compassion and mindfulness meditation training decreased amygdala activity in response to emotional images. This suggests that meditation in general may help improve emotional regulation. However, compassion meditation did not reduce activity in response to images of human suffering, suggesting that compassion meditation increased a person's responsiveness to suffering.

In collaboration with Thupten Jinpa, personal translator to the Dalai Lama, as well as several psychologists at Stanford, CCARE developed a secular compassion training program known as the Compassion Cultivation Training Program. Preliminary research led by Philippe Goldin at Stanford suggests that it is helpful in reducing conditions such as social anxiety and that it elevates different measures of compassion. Beyond having taught hundreds of Stanford community members and students who expressed interest, we have also developed a teacher training program currently underway.

Given the importance of compassion in our world today and a growing body of evidence about the benefits of compassion for health and wellbeing, this field is bound to generate more interest and hopefully impact our communities broadly. CCARE envisions a world in which, thanks to rigorous research studies on the benefits of compassion, the practice of compassion is understood as being as important to health as physical exercise and a healthy diet. Empirically validated techniques for cultivating compassion are widely accessible, and the practice of compassion is taught and applied in schools, hospitals, prisons, the military, and other community settings.

Originally published at Psychology Today