Well it’s a nice change from calling ourselves whingers and begrudgers…
According to a new survey, we’re actually quite kind as a nation.
The survey, which was carried out by Electric Ireland as part of Powering Kindness Week, found that 71 per cent of the survey population experienced an act of kindness within a week period.
In all, 1,000 people were surveyed and the results found that:
- 79 per cent of those surveyed found no cost acts of kindness (giving up your seat, offering to assist with daily chores) more satisfying than acts of kindness associated with cost
- 29 per cent rated a simple smile and greeting as the kindest act a stranger could do for them
- 71 per cent had experienced an act of kindness within a week’s period
- 52 per cent would be deterred by feelings of embarrassment
According to Dr Maureen Gaffney, Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Society at University College Dublin, kindness has a significant impact on the happiness and mood of individuals, and is a major part of the grammar of civil society, integral what we call ‘quality of life’ in Ireland.
‘Kindness not only affects the person who receives the act of kindness, but has an even greater impact on the person performing the act of kindness. Kindness is elemental to quality of life, strengthening the ties that bind us together in families and communities. Kindness is strongly linked to gratitude – we feel grateful when somebody is kind to us and instinctively want to reciprocate – to pay back the kindness to that person or to ‘give back’ pay in a more general way to other people. So kindness and gratitude serve as a powerful antidote to the culture of entitlement that was creeping into Irish society during the latter years of the boom.’
So we’re poorer, but we’re nicer. Every cloud…
To take part or find out more about Powering Kindness Week, visit www.poweringkindness.ie.
