kindness contagion essay

July 26, 2016

Kindness Contagion

Witnessing kindness inspires kindness, causing it to spread like a virus

By Jamil Zaki

People imitate not only the particulars of positive actions, but also the spirit underlying them. This implies is that kindness itself is contagious, and that that it can cascade across people, taking on new forms along the way. 

ImageSource (MARS)

Conformity gets a bad rap, and it often deserves one. People abuse drugs, deface national parks , and spend $150,000 on tote bags after seeing others do so. Peer pressure doesn’t have to be all bad, though. People parrot each other’s voting , healthy eating , and environmental conservation efforts, too. They also “catch” cooperation and generosity from others. Tell someone that his neighbors donated to a charity, and that person will boost his own giving, even a year later . Such good conformity appears promising, but also narrow. Prior experiments, for instance, focus almost exclusively on people who observe others engage in a particular positive action (say, recycling) and later imitate that same action.

In a set of new studies , my colleagues and I highlight a broader flavor of positive conformity. We find that people imitate not only the particulars of positive actions, but also the spirit underlying them. This implies is that kindness itself is contagious, and that that it can cascade across people, taking on new forms along the way. To be a potent social force, positive conformity requires such flexibility. Not everyone can afford to donate to charity or spend weeks on a service trip to Haiti. Witnessing largesse in others, then, could inhibit would-be do-gooders who feel that they can’t measure up. Our work suggests that an individual’s kindness can nonetheless trigger people to spread positivity in other ways.

In our study, people were given a $1 “bonus” in addition to their payment for completing the study. They then viewed brief descriptions of 100 charities, and decided whether they wanted to give any of their bonus to each one. After making each donation, participants saw what they believed was the average donation made by the last 100 people in the study. In fact, we manipulated these “group donations” to influence our participants’ beliefs. Some people learned that they lived in a generous world, where people donated about three fourths of their bonus to charity. Others learned that they lived in a stingy world, where people donated only about one fourth of their bonus.

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Like other scientists, we found that participants who believed others were generous became more generous themselves. We then tested our real question: does kindness contagion transcend mere imitation? In a follow up study, people observed others donating generously or stingily, and then completed what they thought was an unrelated “pen pal” task. They read a note in which another person described the ups and downs of his last month, and wrote back. People who had watched others donate generously wrote friendlier, more empathic, and more supportive notes than those who had watched others behave greedily. This suggests that kindness evolves as it diffuses, “infecting” behaviors through which new individual can express it.

People in our studies didn’t even need to see others do anything in order to catch their kindness. In another follow-up, people read stories about the suffering of homeless individuals. After each story, they saw what they believed was the average level of empathy past participants had felt in response to its protagonist. Some people learned that their peers cared a great deal, and others learned they were pretty callous. At the end of the study, we gave participants a $1 bonus, and the opportunity to donate as much of it as they liked to a local homeless shelter. People who believed others had felt empathy for the homeless cared more themselves, and also donated twice as much as people who believed others had felt little empathy.

We still don’t fully understand the psychological forces that power kindness contagion. One possibility, supported by our own work, is that people value being on the same page with others. For instance, we’ve found that when individuals learn that their own opinions match those of a group, they engage brain regions associated with the experience of reward, and that this brain activity tracks their later efforts to line up with a group. As such, when people learn that others act kindly, they might come to value kindness more themselves.

Of course, conformity is not always a force for good. Indeed, the ill will now blanketing our country often reflects people following each other’s lead. People who hold extreme attitudes voice them loudly; when moderate individuals fall in line, groups grow more entrenched and further apart from each other. The expanding , embittering gulf between left and right in American politics highlights the volatile results of such polarization. Our work, however, suggests that conformity can drive not just animosity, but also compromise, tolerance, and warmth.

The battle between dark and light conformity likely depends on which cultural norms people witness most often. Someone who is surrounded by grandstanding and antagonism will tend towards hostile and exclusionary attitudes herself. Someone who instead learns that her peers prize empathy will put more work to empathize herself , even with people who are different from her. By emphasizing empathy-positive norms, we may be able to leverage the power of social influence to combat apathy and conflict in new ways. And right now, when it comes to mending ideological divides and cultivating kindness, we need every strategy we can find.

Jamil Zaki is an associate professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory . He is author of The War for Kindness .

Essay on Kindness

500 words essay on kindness.

The world we live in today has been through a lot of things from world wars to epidemics, but one thing which remained constant throughout was resilience and kindness. Moreover, it was the spirit to fight back and help out each other. Kindness must be an essential and universal quality to make the world a better place. Through an essay on kindness, we will go through it in detail.

Importance of Kindness

Kindness towards nature, animals and other people has the ability to transform the world and make it a beautiful place for living. But, it is also important to remember that kindness towards you is also essential for personal growth.

Kindness is basically being polite, compassionate and thoughtful. Every religion and faith teaches its followers to be kind. Most importantly, kindness must not limit to humans but also to every living creature.

Even nature has its own way of showing kindness. For instance, the trees grow fruits for us and provide us with shade. One must not see kindness as a core value but as a fundamental behavioural element. When you are kind to your loved ones, you create a stable base.

As people are becoming more self-centred today, we must learn kindness. We must try to integrate it into ourselves. You might not know how a small act of kindness can bring about a change in someone’s life. So, be kind always.

Kindness Always Wins

There is no doubt that kindness always wins and it has been proven time and again by people. Sid is a greedy man who does not share his wealth with anyone, not even his family members.

He also does not pay his workers well. One day, he loses his bag of gold coins and loses his temper. Everyone helps him out to search for it but no one finds it. Finally, his worker’s little son finds the bag.

Upon checking the bag, he sees all the coins are there. But, his greed makes him play a trick on the poor worker. He claims that there were more coins in the bag and the worker stole them.

The issue goes to the court and the judge confirms from Sid whether his bag had more coins to which he agrees. So, the judge rules out that as Sid’s bag had more coins , the bag which the worker’s son found is not his.

Therefore, the bag gets handed to the worker as no one else claims it. Consequently, you see how the worker’s son act of kindness won and paid him well. On the other hand, how Sid’s greediness resulted in his loss only.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Kindness

It is essential for all of us to understand the value of kindness. Always remember, it does not cost anything to be kind. It may be a little compliment or it can be a grand gesture, no matter how big or small, kindness always matters. Therefore, try your best to be kind to everyone around you.

FAQ of Essay on Kindness

Question 1: Why is it important to be kind?

Answer 1: It is important to be kind because it makes one feel good about oneself. When you do things for other people and help them with anything, it makes you feel warm and that you have accomplished something. Moreover, you also get respect in return.

Question 2: Why is kindness so powerful?

Answer 2: Kindness has a lot of benefits which includes increased happiness and a healthy heart . It slows down the ageing process and also enhances relationships and connections, which will indirectly boost your health.

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America’s Epidemic of Unkindness

A new research institute at UCLA wants to start a virtuous cycle of generosity and do-gooding.

Take five minutes to meditate. Try to quiet the judgmental voice in your head. Call your mother. Pay for someone else’s coffee. Compliment a colleague’s work.

In an age of polarization, xenophobia, inequality, downward mobility, environmental devastation, and climate apocalypse, these kinds of Chicken Soup for the Soul recommendations can feel not just minor, but obtuse. Since when has self-care been a substitute for a secure standard of living? How often are arguments about interpersonal civility a distraction from arguments about power and justice? Why celebrate generosity or worry about niceness when what we need is systemic change?

Those are the arguments I felt predisposed to make when I read about the newly inaugurated Bedari Kindness Institute at UCLA, a think tank devoted to the study and promulgation of that squishy concept. But it turns out there is a sweeping scientific case for kindness. In some ways, modern life has made us unkind. That unkindness has profound personal effects. And if we can build a kinder society, that would make life better for everyone.

Darnell Hunt, the dean of social sciences at UCLA and a scholar of media and race, told me some of the questions the institute hopes to investigate or answer: “What are the implications of kindness? Where does it come from? How can we promote it? What are the relationships between kindness and the way the brain functions? What are the relationships between kindness and the types of social environment in which we find ourselves? Is there such a thing as a kind economy? What would that look like?”

Not like what we have now. Research proves what is obvious to anyone who has been online in the past decade: For all that the internet and social media have connected the world, they have also driven people into political silos , incited violence against minority groups , eroded confidence in public institutions and scientists , and made conspiracy theorists of us all—while making us more selfish , less self-confident, and more socially isolated .

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“The internet is largely a cesspool,” Daniel M. T. Fessler, an evolutionary anthropologist and the new institute’s director, told me. “It is not actually surprising that it is largely a cesspool. Because if there’s one thing that we know, it’s that anonymity invites antisociality.” It is easier to be a jerk when you are hiding behind a Twitter egg or a gaming handle, he explained.

The political situation is not helping matters, either. Americans have become more atomized by education, income, and political leanings. That polarization has meant sharply increased antipathy toward people with different beliefs . “We’re in this hyperpolarized environment where there’s very little conversation across perspectives,” Hunt said. “There’s very little agreement on what the facts are.”

There’s plenty of pressure for people to be unkind to themselves, too. Matthew C. Harris and his wife, Jennifer, seeded the Bedari Kindness Institute with a $20 million gift from their family foundation. For him, the topic is personal. “I wasn’t kind to myself, which has roots in my own childhood experiences. I was judgmental of myself, and therefore others. I was very perfectionistic,” he told me, reflecting on his business career. “I realized: This is not sustainable .”

The antidote seems to lie in media, economic, social, and political change—lower inequality, greater social cohesion, less stress among families, anti-racist government policy. But kindness, meaning “the feelings and beliefs that underlie actions intended to generate a benefit for another,” Fessler said, might figure in too. “Kindness is an end unto itself,” and one with spillover effects.

At a personal level, there’s ample evidence that being aware of your emotions and generous to yourself improves your physical and mental health, as well as your relationships with others. One study found that mindfulness practices aided the caretakers of people with dementia , for instance; another showed that they help little kids improve their executive function .

Read: Stop trying to raise successful kids

Kindness and its cousins—altruism, generosity, and so on—has societal effects as well. Fessler’s research has indicated that kindness is contagious . In one major forthcoming study , he and his colleagues showed some people a video of a person helping his neighbors, while others were shown a video of a person doing parkour. All the study participants were then given some money in return for taking part, and told they could put as much as they wanted in an envelope for charity. (The researchers could not see whether the participants put money in or how much they put in.)

People who saw the neighborly video were much more generous. “One of my research assistants said: ‘There’s something wrong with our accounting; something’s going haywire,’” Fessler told me. “She said, ‘Well, some of these envelopes have more than $5 in them.’” People who saw the first video were taking money out of their own wallets to give to charity, they figured. “I said, ‘That’s not something going wrong! That’s the experiment going right!’” It suggests that families or even whole communities could pitch themselves into a kind of virtuous cycle of generosity and do-gooding, and that people could be prompted to do good for their communities even with no expectation of their kind acts redounding to their own benefit.

Interpersonal empathy might translate into political change, Hunt added. “We see this [research] as being civically very important,” he said. “Take homelessness in L.A., for example. How do we get the electorate to become more empathetic and support policies necessary to make a meaningful intervention? That’s not something you can just do by fiat. People have to be brought along.”

This holiday season, there are so many ways to bring yourself and your community along—among them little things like taking five minutes to meditate, calling your mother, and paying for someone else’s coffee. Maybe kindness is not a distraction from or orthogonal to change. Maybe it is a pathway to it.

clock This article was published more than  5 years ago

How a ‘kindness contagion’ improves lives, especially now

Recently I’ve been on a mission to both find and create more kindness in my world, if only because the news headlines — even personal encounters — are too frequently mean and mean-spirited. I’m thinking of teenage and grown-up bullies, the use of slurs and other hateful language. I’m thinking of the driver who rushed into a parking spot I was backing into — and then flipped me the bird. Thanks, guy.

But life’s not all about sourpusses and sour grapes. Not long ago, I was waiting in a long line at my favorite bakery, which makes some amazing scones. The delicious pile in the glass case dwindled quickly as those in the long line ahead of me snapped them up, until there was just one perfect beauty remaining — and one woman ahead of me. To my everlasting joy, she chose a croissant, so when I got to the counter I pointed to the last scone and declared, “I’ll take that.” No sooner had I spoken than the fellow behind me cried out: “Hey, that’s my scone! I’ve been waiting in line for 20 minutes!” Which he had been — behind me.

I surprised both of us when I didn’t respond with, “Sorry, it’s mine!” Instead, I countered: “Would you like half?” After a moment of shocked silence, he accepted my offer and one-upped my spontaneous act of generosity. “Why don’t I buy another pastry and we can share both?” We then sat down on a nearby bench to break bread. While it turned out we had almost nothing in common — from our jobs, ages, political views or marital status — we’d shared a moment of connection and a simple kindness. I felt happy and, frankly, wanted more of that feeling.

I probably experienced a “helper’s high,” which is what Melanie Rudd, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Houston, calls the boost we get from being kind . Much of Rudd’s research into understanding what makes us happy has focused on this aspect of giving, which she calls “impure altruism.” The “act of helping others and seeing others happy . . . gives us this warm glow,” she says, which benefits us.

Seen from this vantage point, “it’s hard to do something truly altruistic because we always feel good about it ourselves after we’ve performed the act of kindness,” she says. Not surprisingly, she told me, we want more of that feeling, which comes from behaving in a kind or generous manner. Even people who spend money on others — rather than themselves — experience greater feelings of happiness.

I’d really never thought that someone else’s good behavior might rub off on me.

Then I recalled recently waiting to buy a coffee a week before my scone-sharing interaction when a customer in front of me, whom I didn’t know and hadn’t even talked to, told the barista that he’d pay for my beverage. He said he just did that “from time to time. It makes me feel good.” I thanked him profusely, feeling as if I’d been given a gift much more expensive than one that had cost $2.64. I wondered: Was my willingness to share a scone some days later somehow related to this gift of coffee?

Possibly. Jamil Zaki, an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University, has spent years studying how kindness can be transmitted. “We find that people imitate not only the particulars of positive actions, but also the spirit underlying them,” according to his 2016 article in Scientific American . “This implies that . . . kindness itself is contagious, and that . . . it can cascade across people, taking on new forms along the way.” For instance, he found that people made larger charitable gifts when they believed others were generous “than when they thought people around them were stingy.” Even more interesting, Zaki learned that when people cannot afford to donate, “an individual’s kindness can nonetheless trigger people to spread positivity in other ways.”

All of which made me think about some of the GoFundMe campaigns I’ve supported: If I see good friends giving about $50 or $100 on Facebook, I’ll probably give that as well; if they are donating less, I give less. Zaki believes this is rooted in our “desire to be part of a group,” which gives us a sense of safety and identity.

I was pondering Zaki’s research when I went to a bookstore event for novelist Tayari Jones, who was discussing her book, “An American Marriage .” Jones, who had been introduced by ­best-selling novelist Lee Smith, started her talk by praising Smith.

Earlier in her career, Jones said, “no one wanted my free book” when she was trying to give it away at a book fair. She had been on the verge of tears when she saw Smith, surrounded by fans, and introduced herself. “Lee was so warm and hugged me, and said: ‘Where’s your book? Where’s your booth?’ ” Smith invited Jones to her table, where she handed out the younger author’s book as a package with her own. “She just took me in,” Jones said. It was clear the small act of kindness had a profound influence on her.

Afterward, I asked Jones about that moment: Had she ever done someone else a similar kindness? Yes, she replied, and told me how she’d recently reached out to a younger writer whose work she happened to encounter and helped her take some steps to get published.

That is what’s known as the “kindness contagion,” a term used by Stanford’s Zaki, who has written about and studied this phenomenon .

“When we see other people around us acting in generous or kind or empathic ways, we will be more inclined to act that way ourselves,” he says.

So for the next month, I’m going to smile more often at my friends to see whether they return the smile. If Zaki is correct, people are going to try to conform to my behavior. Call it my own mini “kindness contagion.” It could be catching.

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Is kindness contagious?

Imagine that you’re approaching your favorite coffee shop, when your eyes are suddenly drawn toward an interaction between two strangers happening just outside its doors. One man sits, leaning against the glass window, knees drawn to his chest, a plastic bag of belongings on the sidewalk. Above him, a woman, hand tenderly outstretched, offers the man a few dollar bills.

As you walk past the scene and enter the coffee shop, do you consider looking in your own wallet to see whether you also have something to offer the man on the sidewalk? Do you pull out a few bills and walk outside to offer them to him, wishing you could do more?

In effect: Does the simple act of witnessing such an interaction make you feel better about your neighborhood and community?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you’re probably feeling what social scientists from UCLA’s Bedari Kindness Institute call “elevation” — an uplifting emotion often accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, goosebumps, sometimes even tears. Hopefully, that feeling comes part and parcel with some “prosocial contagion,” or contagious kindness. Researchers from the institute, founded in 2019, have studied whether kindness can be contagious.

What they found, in short, is yes.

In a world that today seems overloaded with fractured discourse, hate speech, hate crimes, tension and trauma (read the accompanying story on the new  UCLA Initiative to Study Hate ), we might all benefit from the reminder that our own positive actions have ripple effects.

Daniel Fessler, director of the institute (which is housed in the UCLA College’s Division of Social Sciences), says, “Each of us is kind to someone, and therefore has the potential to be kind to everyone — even those with whom we differ.”

In the study, 8,000 people participated in 15 experiments. Eleven were conducted online, and four were done in person via on-the-street interviews in Los Angeles. Half of the participants watched a viral video titled “Unsung Hero,” which follows a young man as he goes through his daily routine, stopping often to help others. The other half watched a control video of a man performing impressive parkour stunts in a show of athleticism.

Those who participated in person received five $1 bills as payment for their time. At the end, researchers handed each a padded envelope and invited them to make a donation to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. The researchers then turned away so people could anonymously choose how much money, if any, to put inside before sealing the packet.

People who viewed the “Unsung Hero” video gave 25 percent more to the charity than those who saw the athletic-stunt video.

Those surveyed online also got the chance to show their propensity for contagious kindness. Each was asked a hypothetical question: If your employer were to match donations to a worthy cause, would you be inclined to give? Those who viewed the “Unsung Hero” video were significantly more likely to commit to charitable giving: Sixty-seven percent said they would donate to charities if backed by their companies. For people who only saw the parkour video, only 47 percent answered the same way.

The insights derived from the study continue to blossom into new projects that have the potential to make our world a kinder place. Most recently, researchers at the Bedari Kindness Institute teamed up with UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers and YouTube Kids to curate a series of videos derived from this research, in an effort to inspire K-12 kids to show kindness to others as a way to negate bullying.

Released during October’s anti-bullying month, the videos promote kind, caring behavior in everyday situations. Hosted by actress Tabitha Brown, the collection is anchored by two short animated films showing people doing good deeds, followed by videos of kids who describe witnessing or performing acts of kindness. Stacey Freeman, executive director of the institute, developed a parent resource guide to help inspire kindness in children’s everyday actions. She also recruited kids ages 6-12 to create selfie-style videos as a relatable way for kids to see other kids talking about the importance of kindness.

“As a scholarly organization,” she says, “we are always seeking to translate research and knowledge into real-world applications.”

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• Published: 14 June 2021

How kindness can be contagious in healthcare

• Weiming Tang 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Dan Wu 3 , 4 ,
• Fan Yang 2 , 3 , 5 ,
• Cheng Wang 4 ,
• Wenfeng Gong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-2008 6 ,
• Kurt Gray 7 &
• Joseph D. Tucker   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2804-1181 1 , 2 , 3 , 8  

Nature Medicine volume  27 ,  pages 1142–1144 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Health policy
• Interdisciplinary studies

Pay-it-forward programs, whereby someone receives a gift or free service and then gives a gift to another person in return, have expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide an opportunity for healthcare providers to reduce costs, increase uptake of interventions such as testing and vaccines, and promote sustainability.

COVID-19 has transformed everyone’s lives and has disrupted the social fabric that weaves medicine together. Unraveled interpersonal relationships have contributed to healthcare-worker burnout, have limited access to health services and have exacerbated inequalities. Will the exhausted frontline worker help the local community group to navigate re-opening? Will the elderly person who lives alone with a disability receive additional help to receive a vaccine? Will the person living in poverty receive high-quality healthcare services? The history of infectious-disease pandemics suggests that responses to plagues are notable for silver linings in which individual people and groups are generous 1 . We define ‘generosity’ as the capacity to give more than is necessary or expected 2 . COVID-19-related messages, fundraising projects and community-engagement activities have demonstrated substantial generosity in these uncertain times 3 , 4 , 5 . This generosity not only showcases the endurance of the human spirit but also may provide a way to help control infectious diseases. Here we review how systematically harnessing the psychological impulse for one form of generosity—pay it forward—can encourage healthy behaviors and mobilize community resources.

It pays to be kind

In a pay-it-forward system, a person receives a gift from someone (or from a community organization, clinic or government) and then is provided the opportunity to give a gift to another 6 (Fig. 1 ). It is an example of upstream reciprocity theory, which suggests that people who are helped by someone feel a ‘warm glow’ that makes them more likely to help other, unspecified people. After a person receives help from someone, there is a perceived social obligation to help another person who needs it. The pay-it-forward approach can increase community solidarity and decrease some of the financial barriers to health services. Two systematic reviews found that being kind (i.e., a prosocial behavior) was associated with well-being, especially psychological function 7 and subjective well-being 8 . In addition, there are potential organizational benefits associated with upstream reciprocity, including improved teamwork, enhanced creativity and stronger engagement 9 . Pay-it-forward approaches have been used widely outside of medicine. Human studies demonstrate that cooperative human behavior may be contagious and may spread through social networks 10 .

Social solidarity probably promotes a sense of obligation to contribute to others.

Generosity ripples

The pay-it-forward concept has a long history. Aesop, the ancient Greek storyteller, observed, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Later in ancient Greece, the comedy Dyskolos used this as a central component of its plot. The idea of paying for someone else was popularized by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. Franklin described how he lent money to others without the expectation of their paying it back, but instead with the notion that this act of generosity could ripple forward among friends 11 . Another example of the pay-it-forward approach comes from mathematician Paul Erdős. Already an established and well-recognized mathematics professor, Erdős discovered that an incoming Harvard University mathematics student would be unable to pay his fees. He supported the student in attending the university, and the student later offered to pay him back. Erdős suggested that the student find another student in need and instead pay it forward 12 . In the past ten years, similar pay-it-forward programs have been implemented in many settings, including providing a free cup of coffee in a café, a free beer in a pub, a free ice cream from a shop and a free hamburger from a restaurant. Both locally owned stores and large corporations have used the pay-it-forward concept to spur generosity in local communities.

Within medicine, the pay-it-forward principle is exemplified in the practice of mentorship. The informal and formal wisdom passed from mentors to mentees is often serendipitous and contagious. Mentors provide the unprompted give of time, energy and guidance to the next generation. Over time, mentees transition to become mentors for others. Mentorship creates virtuous cycles within institutions, spurring contagious kindness. A study from the Roberts Woods Johnson Foundation found that scholars who had received mentorship were more likely to serve as effective mentors for others 13 . Beyond mentorship, pay-it-forward approaches have been used in health research to increase diagnostic test uptake and vaccine uptake.

Increased testing

Pay-it-forward approaches have increased testing for sexually transmitted infection among sexual minorities in China 6 . The approach was iteratively developed through the use of crowdsourcing open calls to build community ownership and nurture trust 14 , 15 . Men who have sex with men (MSM) received a free testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia alongside community messages, and were then asked if they wished to donate money or create messages to sustain testing for sexually transmitted infection among subsequent MSM. An observational study enrolled 408 men at MSM-led clinics and compared the rates of testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia during a pay-it-forward period with those observed during a standard-of-care period in which patients paid for their own tests. The uptake rates of testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia were ninefold higher among men who underwent the pay-it-forward testing strategy (54% compared with 6%). Among all men who received testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia, this was the first test for 97 of 121 (80%) of the MSM. A subsequent randomized controlled trial confirmed the effectiveness of the approach and showed that donations supported approximately 40% of the total cost of the service 6 . Details about the total amount donated and people tested were shared back to the MSM community on a weekly basis, which increased transparency and trust in the process. Mixed-methods research suggested that the ‘warm glow’ effect strengthened a sense of engagement among the MSM who participated in and organized the project 16 . The project strengthened social bonds between MSM, nurturing a sense of solidarity.

Vaccine uptake

Pilot data suggest that in addition to aiding sexual health, a pay-it-forward approach may increase uptake of vaccination against influenza 17 . Elderly people and caregivers (parents or grandparents of children) were given a free vaccine against influenza and community-engaged messages, then were asked whether they want to support vaccines against influenza for others in the local community. Data from a pilot study showed that 83% (83 of 100) of participants received a vaccine against influenza after receiving the pay-it-forward intervention, compared with 35% (32 of 92) among those who were offered a fee-based influenza vaccine 17 . After receiving a free vaccine, 98.8% (82 of 83) of people donated money. The mean donation per person was US$5.2, which was over half of the market price of vaccinating a child against influenza. 18% (15 of 83) of people created a text, image or video in support of vaccination against influenza. The community-participatory components of a pay-it-forward approach also helped improve people’s confidence in a vaccine. Further research on how pay-it-forward approaches could increase vaccination against influenza is needed.

Spreading kindness during COVID-19

Pay-it-forward principles have been used in the response to COVID-19 to enhance messaging, fundraising and community support. The United Nations and World Health Organization organized a crowdsourcing open call to creative people, including a category focused on spreading kindness 4 . This category received 689 artworks that are now freely available online through Creative Commons ( https://unitednations.talenthouse.com/ ) (Fig. 2 ). Second, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine organized a #BumpItForward campaign to support the provision of COVID-19-related equipment and supplies for frontline health workers in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi 5 . The campaign raised £174,183 from 3,565 supporters that provided support for critical COVID-19 efforts.

a , Open-access image created by Lucie Rice for this crowdsourcing open call (CC-BY). b , Open-access image created by Justin Teodoro for this crowdsourcing open call (CC-BY).

Similar campaigns have been established to build on the ‘warm glow’ after vaccination against COVID-19 and help direct generous people to support such vaccination in low- and middle-income countries 18 . The City of London’s COVID-19 pay-it-forward crowdfunding campaign raised over £1.5M from 20,000 people for small businesses to rebuild in response to COVID-19 19 . The project included a free platform for fundraising and tailored support for small businesses.

Finally, pay-it-forward principles have been used to structure community-support activities focused on COVID-19. Many mutual-aid groups have used pay-it-forward programs to provide material support, advice and encouragement to other local people 3 . A related example is time banking, a mutual-support approach whereby people contribute volunteer service hours to help others in need within their local community and are then rewarded with time credits or currency that can be used for ordering volunteer services from subsequent volunteers 20 . Time banking, like a pay-it-forward program, relies on individual and collective kindness in order to address health problems. Time banking has been piloted to enhance elderly care 21 .

Looking forward

The pay-it-forward principle has limitations. First, pay-it-forward approaches can expand access to services associated with a fee, but would not be intended to replace government services. Rather than delaying public provision of services, a pay-it-forward program could draw attention to new models that could then be supported by the government or other partners. This may be particularly useful in low- and middle-income countries in which government resources for health are limited. Second, pay-it-forward programs have yet to be scaled up. The broad involvement of community-based stakeholders in pilot pay-it-forward projects suggests that this approach could be integrated into community practices. Implementation research to inform the expansion of pay-it-forward services in the era of COVID-19 is essential. Third, the novelty of the pay-it-forward concept and the involvement of monetary donations may sometimes cause confusion and doubt among potential participants. Mechanisms to ensure accountability and trustworthiness in a pay-it-forward program are key to program maintenance. Fourth, initial pay-it-forward projects have yet to receive sufficient donations to make them independent. At the same time, pay-it-forward approaches are not standalone interventions but are an approach to reduce costs, increase uptake and promote sustainability.

Pay-it-forward approaches could be useful for introducing new health interventions before their formal integration into government health services. Pilots are underway focused on various subpopulations (such as youth, or female sex workers) and diseases (such as vaccination against human papillomavirus, or testing for hepatitis). Given that many evidence-based health interventions take years and sometimes decades to implement, a formal mechanism to support health interventions during this period may be useful. Pragmatic trials, participatory research and related implementation science could help to scale up this approach. The pay-it-forward approach is not a panacea, but such experiences of unexpected generosity shine more brightly during these dark COVID-19 days. The contagious generosity of frontline health workers and local citizens may be one of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIAID K24AI143471 and R01AI158826), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges, the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, the Charles Koch Foundation (Center for the Science of Moral Understanding) and the Guangdong Provincial Dermatology Hospital. The funding sources had no part in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data, writing of the report, and decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Is kindness contagious?

by Jessica Wolf, University of California

Imagine that you're approaching your favorite coffee shop, when your eyes are suddenly drawn toward an interaction between two strangers happening just outside its doors. One man sits, leaning against the glass window, knees drawn to his chest, a plastic bag of belongings on the sidewalk. Above him, a woman, hand tenderly outstretched, offers the man a few dollar bills.

As you walk past the scene and enter the coffee shop , do you consider looking in your own wallet to see whether you also have something to offer the man on the sidewalk? Do you pull out a few bills and walk outside to offer them to him, wishing you could do more?

In effect: Does the simple act of witnessing such an interaction make you feel better about your neighborhood and community?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you're probably feeling what social scientists from UCLA's Bedari Kindness Institute call "elevation"—an uplifting emotion often accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, goosebumps, sometimes even tears. Hopefully, that feeling comes part and parcel with some "prosocial contagion," or contagious kindness . Researchers from the institute, founded in 2019, have studied whether kindness can be contagious.

What they found, in short, is yes.

In a world that today seems overloaded with fractured discourse, hate speech, hate crimes, tension and trauma, we might all benefit from the reminder that our own positive actions have ripple effects.

Daniel Fessler, director of the institute (which is housed in the UCLA College's Division of Social Sciences), says, "Each of us is kind to someone, and therefore has the potential to be kind to everyone—even those with whom we differ."

In the study, 8,000 people participated in 15 experiments. Eleven were conducted online, and four were done in person via on-the-street interviews in Los Angeles. Half of the participants watched a viral video titled "Unsung Hero," which follows a young man as he goes through his daily routine , stopping often to help others. The other half watched a control video of a man performing impressive parkour stunts in a show of athleticism.

Those who participated in person received five $1 bills as payment for their time. At the end, researchers handed each a padded envelope and invited them to make a donation to UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. The researchers then turned away so people could anonymously choose how much money, if any, to put inside before sealing the packet.

People who viewed the "Unsung Hero" video gave 25% more to the charity than those who saw the athletic-stunt video.

Those surveyed online also got the chance to show their propensity for contagious kindness. Each was asked a hypothetical question: If your employer were to match donations to a worthy cause, would you be inclined to give? Those who viewed the "Unsung Hero" video were significantly more likely to commit to charitable giving: Sixty-seven percent said they would donate to charities if backed by their companies. For people who only saw the parkour video, only 47% answered the same way.

The insights derived from the study continue to blossom into new projects that have the potential to make our world a kinder place. Most recently, researchers at the Bedari Kindness Institute teamed up with UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers and YouTube Kids to curate a series of videos derived from this research, in an effort to inspire K-12 kids to show kindness to others as a way to negate bullying.

Released during October's anti-bullying month, the videos promote kind, caring behavior in everyday situations. Hosted by actress Tabitha Brown, the collection is anchored by two short animated films showing people doing good deeds , followed by videos of kids who describe witnessing or performing acts of kindness. Stacey Freeman, executive director of the institute, developed a parent resource guide to help inspire kindness in children's everyday actions. She also recruited kids ages 6–12 to create selfie-style videos as a relatable way for kids to see other kids talking about the importance of kindness.

"As a scholarly organization," she says, "we are always seeking to translate research and knowledge into real-world applications."

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image: (c) Dr David R Hamilton

I’ve written, and I speak a lot, about how we are contagious, although not in the usual sense of the word where we catch the cold from each other, but in how our emotions are contagious.

Social network research shows that if you feel happy, for instance, you not only infect your friends with happiness, but you also infect your friends’ friends and even your friends’ friends’ friends – out to a radius of three social steps. This is partly facilitated through mirror neurons, specialised cells in the brain that mirror our physical expressions of emotion.

But I set out to research this field because I wanted to see if I could find evidence to support the idea that a small group of people with compassion and kindness in their hearts could change the world. I wanted to know, specifically, if kindness is contagious.

To me it is pretty obvious. If someone does something kind for you, you feel better and are more likely to help out someone else. So that person’s kindness has been contagious in that it has infected you. Similarly, each time you do something kind for anyone, whether it’s a family member, friend or a stranger, your kindness is also contagious. Please know that it doesn’t stop with that person.

As you go about the rest of your day, repercussions of your kind behaviour continue to ripple on, just as a pebble dropped in a pond creates waves that lift a lily pad at the other side of the pond.

I believe that kindness is contagious in three ways. The first is that we feel elevated when someone helps us. We’re on the crest of an emotional wave for a short time and from this state we feel inspired to help other people.

Depending upon the situation, we might also feel relieved when someone helps us, especially if the situation we’re in is stressful. This reduces the stress or worry and we feel a surge of relief. Stress and worry often obstruct our real nature, which contains strong undercurrents of compassion and kindness. When stress goes away and is replaced with a feeling of relief, we’re more likely to act on opportunities to help others.

The third way is that when we see someone being kind, something inside tells us that this is what we should be doing and so we are inspired by the observation of another’s kind behaviour. This is called social contagion.

Kindness is natural to us. It’s odd, but much business has traditionally been done based on the mistaken idea that humans are inherently selfish and look out only for themselves. This has played a role in establishing the competition business model and also made it OK to gain at the expense of another’s loss. This, in my opinion, has played a big role in the economic challenges that face us now.

But actually, what’s natural to us is cooperating with each other, working together, and showing heaps of compassion and kindness. Our genetic ancestors survived hundreds of thousands of years because they learned to work together and to help each other. They thrived because they cared when someone was hurt and because they helped each other. We are here today because they learned that the best way to thrive as a species was to be kind.

And we can see the genetic wiring quite clearly today. Oxytocin is a hormone heavily involved in empathy, compassion and kind behaviour. Kindness creates emotional bonds, which elevate oxytocin levels. Studies show that there are 15 variants, or ‘colours’, in just a small section of the oxytocin receptor gene (that’s the gene that produces the sites on the cells that oxytocin binds to). Those with a lighter shade, so to speak, tend to show more kind behaviour, whereas those with a darker shade are less likely to help others. It is evidence like this that confirms, scientifically, that being kind is a natural thing in us, that the tendency has a strong genetic component. We are not wired to be selfish. We are wired to be kind.

Thus, the solution for the world economy is not in more competition – being bigger, better, and stronger than everyone else – but in more cooperation, just like the solutions to many of our own challenges in our lives lies in cooperation. The seeds of the path ahead lie in kindness towards one another because cooperation builds upon kindness. We need to extend our hands to others.

And just how contagious is kindness? Well, just like emotions, a Harvard study found that kindness also affects our friends, our friends’ friends, and our friends’ friends’ friends. Kindness ripples out to a radius of three social steps.

The research, led by Professor Nicholas Christakis, asked volunteers to play a business game known as the ‘Public Goods’ game, where each person has to put money into a public pot to benefit the community. When one person made a larger donation into the public pot it caused some of those in the group to make larger donations in the next round of the game, which they played with different people. The people in that round, observing the larger donation, then went on to raise their donations in the following round. And similarly, those in that round raised their donations in the next round. The effect of one person’s kind behaviour affected the tone of the game for three successive rounds.

So consider this: this is the holiday season, the season where we traditionally show more goodwill towards each other than normal, so with each act of goodwill you show someone, pause for a second and reflect on the fact that your act of kindness will ripple far further than just the environment you’re in.

My experience shows me that when you have this in mind, you’re more likely to show even more goodwill, and more often, because you start to realise that you really can make a difference.

So with this is mind, can a small group of dedicated people with compassion and kindness in their hearts change the world?

What do you think? I think we can!

[…] 1 Hamilton, D. (2011). David R Hamilton PhD | How Kindness is ContagiousDavid R Hamilton PhD. Retrieved 23 January 2021, from https://drdavidhamilton.com/how-kindness-is-contagious/  […]

[…] bestselling author and kindness scientist Dr. David R Hamilton explains, it’s actually really […]

[…] to Dr. David Hamilton, when people receive kindness, they feel compelled to do the same thing to others. Hence, people […]

© 2024 David R Hamilton PHD from Ready Steady Websites

The Kindness Is Contagious

It started on a day just like any other. My uncle took me to have lunch at a restaurant in my neighborhood after I returned from school. While eating, I suddenly heard a lot of people shouting. From the corner of my eye, I saw a small crowd coming out of a pharmacy shop opposite the restaurant where I was eating. In the middle of them, was a furious man, who looked like the shop-owner, holding a terrified teenager by his collar.

I looked in horror as the boy was being struck and yelled at by the crowd. In the middle of all this, a packet of medicine dropped from his hands and he looked at it with () as if he could not live without it. Soon afterwards, another man from outside the crowd pushed his way through the angry mob and tried to calm everyone down. He then pulled the boy aside and talked to him about something. I could not make out what they talked about from where I was, but from what I could understand, the boy seemed much more relieved and the man walked towards the crowd with a determined look.

He handed some money to the shop-owner, picked the medicine, and handed it over to the boy. The shop-owner grumbled and left but the look on the boy’s face was priceless. It was as if he had seen an angel.

After a few years, one day, when I was working as a volunteer at the (renal ward) in the hospital in my neighborhood, I heard that a nurse there was going to donate one of his kidneys to a patient who was suffering from kidney failure.

Proficient in: Industry

“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”

Highly intrigued, I asked the nurse about why he was going to donate one of his vital organs to a patient. I also asked him whether he was the patient’s relative. To my questions, he answered, “The person whose life I am about to save today, once helped to save my mother’s life. Back when I was younger, and did not have a job, I stole some medicine from a shop to save my mother who was on her death-bed. When everyone around me accused and beat me for theft, a stranger came to my rescue. He heard my intentions for the actions I took, saved me from the angry mob, and bought the medicine with which I was able to save my mother. That stranger was this patient.” I was left speechless.

One thing people today overlook far too much is the simple yet effective act of kindness. In this cold world overtaken by selfishness and greed is a desperate need for those little acts of care. Just a helping hand or a quick show of compassion can turn another person’s day completely around. Kindness is contagious. An act of kindness is not only a good thing to do, it also makes us happier. Sharing kindness also connects us to others and helps to build a happier society for everyone. Helping others is a powerful way to boost one’s own happiness as well as the happiness of those around. And perhaps, one day, the recipient might just return the favor.

I think that people usually avoid helping others because they do not feel like allocating some of their time to helping someone as this does not bear any immediate benefits to the one who is helping. However, if everyone could go out of their way every once in a while, and help others, then the world would not be such a drab place to live in anymore.

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• Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) Organizational Analysis Pages: 5 (1499 words)
• Kindness as Quality That Is Expressed in Many Different Ways Pages: 2 (578 words)
• Tolerance and Kindness in the Novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Pages: 3 (764 words)
• Benefits of Kindness in The Will by Guy de Maupassant Pages: 2 (591 words)

Why Kindness Is Contagious, According To Science

Senior Writer, The Huffington Post

Seeing someone perform an act of kindness can warm your heart. That feeling has a name -- it's called moral elevation , and it's that warm-and-fuzzy-on-the-inside sensation you get when you're in the presence of true human goodness.

The feeling helps to explain why kindness is, quite literally, contagious. Studies have found that this natural high makes people want to behave more altruistically towards others .

New research published in the journal Biological Psychiatry aimed to find out what moral elevation actually looks like in the brain and body . Researchers measured the brain activity and heart rates of 104 college students while they watched videos depicting either heroic acts of kindness or humorous situations.

When the students were viewing the heroic acts, activity in both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system peaked -- an unusual combination that suggests both a fight-or-flight response and a calming, self-soothing response. When they were watching the amusing videos, there was no activation in either system.

“This is a really uncommon pattern , where you see both of these systems recruited for one emotion,” Dr. Sarina Saturn, a psychologist at Oregon State University and one of the authors of the study, told the Greater Good Science Center.

This may be because viewing a compassionate act requires us to witness suffering, which enacts a stress response and activates the sympathetic nervous system. Then, once we see the suffering alleviated through an act of kindness, our heart feels calmed and the parasympathetic nervous system is activated.

The researchers also found that activity in the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain, an area that deals with empathy and the ability to predict others' thoughts and behavior, lit up in scenarios involving someone being helped after they were physically injured -- but not in the act of kindness that was performed on someone who was not injured. That suggests that this brain region likely has some role in moral elevation, but further research is needed to determine exactly what the role is, and whether it's only activated when we see someone in pain.

Want a little moral elevation of your own? Try watching this emotional scene from It's A Wonderful Life , psychologist Jill Suttie advises :

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How To Tell If You're Compassionate

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✍️Essay on Kindness: Samples in 100, 150 and 200 Words

• Updated on  
• Nov 2, 2023

Research says that being kind to someone or vice versa can positively rewire your brain. Kindness is when one is generous to another person. Well, in today’s world, it is very difficult. We can hardly find anyone. Do you wish to bring a change in your lifestyle ? Well, you have come to the right place. Today, we will be talking about kindness in depth. Here, in this article, we have compiled several sample essays on kindness which describe this topic in depth. 

Table of Contents

• 1 Importance of Kindness
• 2 Essay on Kindness in 100 Words
• 3 Essay on Kindness in 150 Words
• 4 Essay on Kindness in 200 Words

Importance of Kindness

Kindness is an effortless yet powerful gesture which put a very positive impact on someone’s life. In the academic community, this gesture is seen as an attitude that can create a huge impact on one’s achievement. 

Speaking in a bit of a medical language, being kind to someone boosts serotonin and dopamine. These brain chemicals, known as neurotransmitters, are what light up your reward and pleasure centres and give you a sense of fulfilment.

This doesn’t end here. Kindness has been shown to have cardioprotective effects. It can lower blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn affects stress levels. 

Speaking of which, here, we have compiled an essay on kindness which will provide you with more information on this topic. Let’s dive in. 

Also Read: Essay on the Importance of the English Language for Students

Essay on Kindness in 100 Words

Being kind is a basic virtue which is very important for humankind to create a world that is more peaceful and compassionate. It is one of the most straightforward acts which can be shown by anyone to others without expecting anything in return. When it comes to showing kindness, there are many ways by which one can show it. These include opening doors for others giving your time to support a good cause or simply being with them during their hard times. 

Always remember that even showing a tiny act of kindness can create a huge impact in someone’s life or simply make their day better. 

Also Read: Essay on Save Environment: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

Essay on Kindness in 150 Words

Kindness is a feeling of being generous, friendly and considerate. In a world full of hatred and cruelty, kindness is what one can spread. You never know whom you might someone from a having bad day. One can simply start spreading kindness in the community they are living in. 

One of the best examples to describe the word kindness would be Mother Teresa . She devoted her entire life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta (Kolkata). She is considered to be one of the greatest humanitarians the world has ever produced.

Speaking of kindness, doing little things such as opening a door for someone. Helping an elderly person cross the street, or holding things of someone are some basic things which can be done.

To conclude, kindness is contagious. It can spread like wildfire. Therefore, in a world where there is so much hatred, and cruelty, where people are fighting. One can be kind which will provoke others to do the same. 

Also Read: Essay on Unity in Diversity in 100 to 200 Words

Essay on Kindness in 200 Words

Kindness is one of the most important qualities which people should have. This is very important to create a more compassionate and harmonious world. The simple act of being considerate towards others and not expecting anything in return is kindness. The word ‘kindness’ can be expressed in many different ways. From helping someone during tough times to helping an old lady cross the street is what best describes this word. 

Other than this, kindness is also beneficial for our well-being. Studies show that people who are kind to people around them tend to be more happy than others. This is because of the endorphins which are released. They contribute towards mood-boosting and pain-relieving effects. Not only this, kindness has also proved to have reduced stress levels and improved cardiovascular health.

To conclude, I would like to leave you all with a thought. In today’s times, we hardly come across kind people. Consider ourselves, we may feel for others around us going through the bad phase but how often do we reach out and assist them? It is our responsibility to nurture kindness in ourselves before we can ask others to do the same for us.

Related Articles 

We hope after reading some of these essays on kindness, your perspective on kindness would have changed. Always remember, everyone is fighting their own battles, so the best you can do is be a little kind and bring a smile to their face. Signing off!

There are certain advantages to our happiness and general well-being for those of us who are kind and caring. Perhaps we will live longer. Additionally, kindness lowers stress and enhances mental health.

These expressions describe persons who are kind, considerate, and considerate of others’ feelings.

Kindness belongs to the human virtue category and is one of the 24 universal character strengths.

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay-writing page and follow Leverage Edu ! 

Malvika Chawla

Malvika is a content writer cum news freak who comes with a strong background in Journalism and has worked with renowned news websites such as News 9 and The Financial Express to name a few. When not writing, she can be found bringing life to the canvasses by painting on them.

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Kindness is contagious: Leslie Resnik

• Published: Nov. 24, 2019, 12:30 p.m.

Members of the National Council of Jewish Women-Cleveland's Acts of Kindness program create bouquets to brighten the days of those needing a little cheer. (Photo Courtesy of NCJW/CLE)

• Guest columnist, cleveland.com

Guest columnist Leslie Resnik is vice president of communications at NCJW/CLE and co-chair of the organization’s 125th anniversary year. A seasoned public relations pro, she’s witnessed what the power of kindness can do.

According to science , kindness is contagious. Seeing someone perform an act of kindness warms the heart, and it quite literally makes you want to be kind to someone else.

Recently, nine women ages 9 to 79 (and one young man, age 5) gathered to rearrange what looked like hundreds of thousands of roses, orchids and other flowers that had previously decorated weddings, benefits and Bar Mitzvah parties over the weekend.

We broke down the centerpieces, sorted the flowers by type, then exercised our floral skills to fashion new arrangements to be taken to residents in assisted living facilities, patients in hospitals and women in safe housing, among others needing a good dose of devotion.

This Act of Kindness happened at BigHearted Blooms , a year-old organization that spreads joy through recycled flowers. And we fell in love with the concept. We knew it had to be a part of National Council of Jewish Women Cleveland’s (NCJW/CLE ) Acts of Kindness program -- a program in which we surprise and delight community members throughout our 125th anniversary year.

As NCJW/CLE vice president of communications and co-chair of its 125th anniversary year, I couldn’t help but wonder: What effects do these random acts of kindness have in our community?

There are multiple scientific studies showing that acts of kindness -- not only doing them, but seeing them done -- can have miraculous physiological, psychological and sociological results.

Here’s why it’s good (and healthy!) to be kind:

It can activate the “love” hormone -- otherwise known as oxytocin -- which helps lower blood pressure, increase self-esteem and optimism. It can make you feel stronger and calmer and give you energy. According to this article filled with kindness facts, perpetually kind people have 23 percent less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population!

You can get a “helper’s high”! You feel like you were the recipient, not the giver. That’s pretty cool.

It’s contagious! Like I said before: When you’re kind, it inspires others to be, too. Who wouldn’t want to make this world a kinder place, simply by paying it forward?

I encourage you to also spread the joy, regularly (regularly is key). And just because NCJW/CLE is spreading kindness in packs, it doesn’t need to be a group sport. A compliment to a stranger, a cup of coffee purchased for the person behind you, an email sent to admire another’s behavior -- these can all release those feel-good chemicals, just as much as a beautiful bouquet of recycled flowers.

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Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at [email protected] . Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today’s topics are also welcome.

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How kindness can be contagious in healthcare

Affiliations.

• 1 School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
• 2 University of North Carolina Project-China, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
• 3 SESH Global, Guangzhou, China.
• 4 Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
• 5 Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
• 6 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Beijing, China.
• 7 Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
• 8 School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. [email protected].
• 9 University of North Carolina Project-China, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. [email protected].
• 10 SESH Global, Guangzhou, China. [email protected].
• 11 Clinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. [email protected].
• PMID: 34127853
• DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01401-x
• COVID-19 / epidemiology
• COVID-19 / virology
• Interpersonal Relations*
• SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification

Grants and funding

• OPP1217240/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
• K24AI143471/U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
• R01AI158826/U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Is Kindness Contagious?

By katelyn millinor, lpc | behavioral health quality manager.

Being kind to others is known to have lasting effects on our mental and physical health. But have you heard that kindness is contagious? That’s because it is!

Being kind lights up the pleasure center of the brain and releases serotonin and oxytocin .

• Serotonin centers our mood, happiness, and overall feelings of well-being.
• Oxytocin, often known as the “love hormone” controls social interactions, triggers the bond between mother and infant, and so much more.

The release of the hormone oxytocin is tied to decreasing blood pressure and reducing inflammation. Therefore, kindness feels good and is actually good for you.

Catching Kindness

Have you ever had a stranger pay for your coffee or hold the door for you? Experiencing an act of kindness can bring a smile to your face and improve your mood. In today’s fast-paced world, these gestures can be even more meaningful. Kindness benefits both the giver and the receiver. 

We often attach kindness to feelings of happiness. We may think of happiness as a mood or emotion, but really we are usually just feeling neutral which can make you feel cheerful. The feeling of happiness comes and goes with things like giving or receiving kindness, giving a compliment, or getting good news.

So, how can you continue giving random acts of kindness during a global pandemic? The possibilities are endless. With technology, people can send thoughtful text messages, social media comments or posts, Zoom or FaceTime interactions, and more. Outside of technology, think about leaving your mail carrier a “Thank you” letter, sending a picture or card to a front-line worker, or simply making a nice comment while picking up your groceries. Here are a few other ways to spread kindness in your day .

Everyone has experienced some sort of increased stress during this pandemic. That’s why kindness – in big and small ways – is more important than ever. Your one random act of kindness could change someone’s day and start a chain reaction of kindness!

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Lesson 2: Analyze Argument: “Kindness Contagion”

Focus Standards 

RI.7.8, SL.7.1c 

Supporting Standards 

RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.10, L.7.4, L.7.6 

Daily Learning Targets

I can identify the main claim, points, evidence, and reasoning in a text. (RI.7.8)

I can ask my classmates to explain their thinking. (SL.7.1c)

I can explain my own thinking. (SL.7.1c)

argument, claim, evidence, point, reasoning (A)

A. Engage the Learner – L.7.4 (5 minutes)

Respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 . 

For students who need more support completing the entrance ticket, allow them to use online, print, ELL, or translation dictionaries to define the argument terms.

Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses. 

Then add argument, claim, point, evidence, and reasoning to the academic word wall with translations in home languages where appropriate, and invite students to add the words to their vocabulary logs. 

Turn and Talk about how these terms relate to one another. Invite volunteers to share their ideas, and explain that the class will examine how these terms relate in the following activity.

Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

A. Read Aloud “Kindness Contagion” (10 minutes)

Explain that students will hear the article “Kindness Contagion” read aloud again. Although they analyzed this article in the previous lesson, it is important to reread and reconsider their understanding of complex texts. 

Ask students to retrieve their copies of the article and their Close Read: “Kindness Contagion” note-catcher.

Read aloud “Kindness Contagion” as students follow along. Pause after each paragraph to have students Turn and Talk about the gist of the paragraph and important vocabulary. Invite students to refer to their Close Read: “Kindness Contagion” note-catcher for support with comprehending the article.

Paragraph 1: Kindness is contagious and changes as it spreads. 

Paragraph 2: Conformity is both good and bad. 

Paragraph 3: Kindness changes as it spreads. 

Paragraph 4: People donate money in a study. 

Paragraph 5: Pen pal task proves kindness changes. 

Paragraph 6: People donate even when hearing about good behavior.

Paragraph 7: Kindness might spread because people like being on same page as others. 

Paragraph 8: A reminder that conformity can also be bad. 

Paragraph 9: We should emphasize positivity to help kindness spread.

B. Analyze Argument: “Kindness Contagion” – RI.7.8 (20 minutes)

Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson: 

I can identify the main claim, points, evidence, and reasoning in a text.

Ask students to recall what the text was about, specifically the central ideas they identified in the previous lesson and how they relate to one another. 

(The article is about how conformity can be good or bad, but positive conformity can spread both through specific actions and in broader ways.)

Tell students that over the next two lessons they will further examine how the author constructs the text as an argument. Remind students that the word argument has two meanings. Explain that rather than the common use of the word argument or fight, this article is a “thinking argument” in which the author is not actually fighting with anyone but sharing his views with the reader about a topic he has learned and thought about a lot, enough to decide his own viewpoint. When he writes an argument about that topic, the writer is sharing his thinking with readers in a logical way. 

Explain that to do this, the author uses certain tools in his writing, and those tools are what they are going to examine in these next two lessons.

Ask students to take out their copies of the “Kindness Contagion” article. 

Display and distribute the Argument: “Kindness Contagion” note-catcher and the Argument: “Kindness Contagion” note-catcher  as necessary. 

The differentiated note-catcher supports students’ writing and analysis with sentence frames. 

Explain the design of the note-catcher and how each of the boxes will help students understand and gather evidence about the tools that authors use for arguments. The box for “Main Claim” allows students to capture the overall claim or statement the author makes about how kindness spreads. The spaces for “Points” are for recording the points he makes to support his main claim. The boxes for “Evidence” are for collecting the facts, quotes, or other information the author uses to support his points. “Reasoning” allows students to describe how the author makes connections among the pieces of evidence as well as to explain how they apply to the point and the main claim. In the following lesson, once students have listed all the evidence for a point, they can assess whether it’s sufficient and relevant, underlining yes or no in the right-hand column. Then students can assess if the reasoning is sound, or makes sense, by underlining yes or no in the right-hand column.

Tell students that in this lesson, they will identify the main claim, two points, and the evidence and reasoning that support the points. Students will have the opportunity to discuss these points and the supporting evidence with their peers. In the following lesson, students will learn to evaluate the evidence and reasoning and make a judgment about the argument overall.

Closing and Assessment

A. Discuss Argument: “Kindness Contagion” – SL.7.1 (10 minutes)

Review the appropriate learning targets relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson: “I can ask my classmates to explain their thinking.” “I can explain my own thinking.”

Remind students of their work generating discussion norms as a class in Unit 1. 

Refer students to the Discussion Norms anchor chart, and ask them to Think-Pair-Share to generate questions they can ask to learn why their classmates think something. 

Why do you think that? What in the text makes you think so?

Add student responses to the Discussion Norms anchor chart, in the “Cues” column.

Ask students to Think-Pair-Share on responses they could make to these new questions or cues. (Because . . . If you look at . . . it says, “ . . .”) Add student responses to the Discussion Norms anchor chart, in the “Responses” column. Refer to Discussion Norms anchor chart (example for teacher reference) as necessary. Share with students any of the Conversation Cues listed on the example anchor chart that they have not yet arrived at as a group, and inform students that these Conversation Cues can be used to help one another ask for more information from peers.

Tell students that they will have a chance to practice these cues today as well as the ones they identified in Module 1 as they engage in a discussion about the article “Kindness Contagion.”

Ask students to Turn and Talk with a partner about which cues they find most useful in engaging their peers and how they can incorporate those into discussion. (Responses will vary.)

Inform students that they will now engage in a whole-class discussion about the claims, evidence, and reasoning they identified as a class and with their partners. Tell students that this discussion should provide good opportunities to ask clarifying questions of one another and to inquire as to why their peers made certain statements during the discussion. Encourage students to write new learning in their note-catchers as they discuss with peers.

Remind students to also use the Conversation Cues they identified to expand conversation and ask peers for more information.

To guide discussion, ask questions such as: “What is the overall argument of the article? What is the main claim in this argument? What are the points the author makes, and how does he support the points? What evidence and reasoning does the author use to support his points?” (See the Argument: “Kindness Contagion” note-catcher [example for teacher reference] as necessary for model answers.)

Monitor class discussion, and highlight the use of relevant Conversation Cues. Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets and the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

A. Independent Research Reading

Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

EL Education Curriculum

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• ELA 2019 G7:M2:U2

Write to Inform: Are Social Epidemics Real?

In this unit, ccs standards, the four ts.

• Habits of Character

Unit-at-a-Glance

Texts and resources to buy, preparation and materials, you are here:.

• ELA 2019 Grade 7
• ELA 2019 G7:M2

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In Unit 2, students transfer the knowledge about how scientists think about and investigate medical epidemics to the study of social epidemics. Students are introduced to the topic of social epidemics through various articles that describe the basic terms and theories behind social and emotional contagion. They practice summarizing the central ideas of the articles as well as delineating and evaluating their claims. In small groups, students engage in discussions in preparation for the mid-unit assessment, a text-based discussion in which students evaluate whether the authors of an article have provided sufficient evidence and reasoning for their claims connecting social and disease epidemics.

In the second half of the unit, students learn and practice the skills necessary for completing their end of unit assessment, an informative essay that answers the question: How do social scientists use ideas from the study of epidemics to understand and explain human behavior? Students engage in the full writing process, from planning to drafting to peer critique to revision. By the end of the unit, students will be able to think critically about the latest research about how emotions, ideas, and behaviors spread. This will prepare them for further investigation of the topic in Unit 3, as they engage in their own research and develop a podcast script related to a social or disease epidemic.

In this unit, students continue to read nonfiction texts at their level as they choose independent research reading texts. Students should complete 20 minutes of independent research reading for homework when they are not reading a chapter from the anchor text. Students should also continue independent research reading over weekends.

Please note: For the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum, there are Teaching Notes for  each unit that contain helpful information for supporting English language learners. These overview notes complement the more specific English language learner supports and differentiated materials within each lesson. You will find the Teaching Notes in the Unit download below.

Reading—Informational Text

• RI.7.1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• RI.7.2: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
• RI.7.8: Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
• RI.7.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• W.7.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• W.7.2a: Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
• W.7.2b: Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
• W.7.2c: Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
• W.7.2d: Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
• W.7.2e: Establish and maintain a formal style.
• W.7.2f: Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.
• W.7.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.7.5: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 7.)
• W.7.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
• W.7.9b: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• W.7.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening

• SL.7.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• SL.7.1a: Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
• SL.7.1b: Follow rules for collegial discussions, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
• SL.7.1c: Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.
• SL.7.1d: Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.
• L.7.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• L.7.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• L.7.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
• Topic:  Epidemics: Write to Inform: Are Social Epidemics Real?
• Read a new article and engage in a text-based discussion about the strength of the article's argument.
• Write an informative essay about how social scientists use ideas from the study of epidemics to explain human behavior.  
• Targets:  RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.8, RI.7.10, W.7.2, W.7.4, W.7.5, W.7.6, W.7.9b, W.7.10, SL.7.1, L.7.1, L.7.2, L.7.6
• Texts:  "Kindness Contagion" by Jamil Zaki,  Patient Zero by Marilee Peters, "Conflicting Ideas" by T.C., "Are Social Epidemics Real?" by EL Education

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Habits of Character/Social-Emotional Learning Focus

Central to the EL Education curriculum is a focus on "habits of character" and social-emotional learning. Students work to become effective learners, developing mindsets and skills for success in college, career, and life (e.g., initiative, responsibility, perseverance, collaboration); work to become ethical people, treating others well and standing up for what is right (e.g., empathy, integrity, respect, compassion); and work to contribute to a better world, putting their learning to use to improve communities (e.g., citizenship, service).

In this unit, as students read various informational and argument articles, they witness evidence of the following habits of character--collaboration, initiative, responsibility, perseverance, citizenship, and service--and discuss what these look and sound like in the texts. Also, students focus on respect, empathy, and compassion as they respond to one another's ideas and skills in written work and in discussions. Students also practice collaboration and taking initiative during discussions. They practice integrity and perseverance as they work independently on assessments. And they take responsibility for their own learning as they track progress on their assessments.  

Each unit is made up of a sequence of between 10-18 lessons. The Unit-at-a-Glance charts, available on the grade-level landing pages, break down each unit's lessons, showing CCS standards, agenda breakdown, daily learning targets, and ongoing assessments. The charts also indicate which lessons include mid- and end of unit assessments and the performance task.

View the unit-at-a-glance chart

Texts and resources that need to be procured. Please download the Required Trade Books and Resources Procurement List for procurement guidance.

See full list of texts, including recommended texts

Prepare the Discussion Norms anchor chart with the Level 3 Conversation Cues ( Unit 2, Lesson 2 download ).

Prepare vocabulary logs and independent reading journals.

Ensure that families are aware of the sensitive content of the social epidemic articles, and prepare students who may be affected by this content in advance.

The following material is introduced in this unit and referenced throughout both the module and the school year:

• Argument note-catcher

ELA 2019 G7:M2:U2:L1

Close read: determine central ideas: “kindness contagion", ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l2, analyze argument: “kindness contagion”, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l3, evaluate argument: “kindness contagion", ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l4, close read: determine central ideas: “conflicting ideas”, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l5, analyze argument: “conflicting ideas”, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l6, mid-unit 2 assessment: text-based discussion: analyze argument: “are social epidemics real” (lessons 6-7), ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l8, write an informative essay: analyze a model, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l9, write an informative essay: draft an introduction, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l10, write an informative essay: draft proof paragraph 1, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l11, write an informative essay: draft proof paragraph 2, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l12, write an informative essay: draft conclusion, ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l13, end of unit 2 assessment, part i: write an informative essay: social and medical epidemics (lessons 13–14), ela 2019 g7:m2:u2:l15, end of unit 2 assessment, part ii: tuning protocol and revision.

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

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Kindness Essay

Kindness essay is a reflection on the idea of kindness, which is an act of selflessness. Because kindness doesn’t come with the expectation of receiving anything in return, it is a great way to show your appreciation for what you have received in life.

Kindness is always an excellent choice to make in any situation. When someone feels bad or down, the kindness shown can make a person feel more supported and loved. It is an action that anyone can do.

Importance of Kindness Essay

Kindness is a simple yet powerful gesture. It can positively impact someone’s life, and the ripple effect is just as powerful. In the academic community, kindness is thought to be an attitude that influences achievement among people.

Kindness is a form of love and compassion and one that needs to spread throughout the world. It allows people to see the best in others, encouraging them to be their best selves. Allowing kindness to exist for those around us is beneficial for them and ourselves.

It is our responsibility as human beings to be kind to other people. We can be considerate and compassionate towards other people to live in peace and love. Kindness is a virtue, and it is one of the essential things in life. It shows other people that you care about them and takes away some of the pain and suffering that they may be feeling. It can also help heal others, and everyone should always try to think about how their actions will affect others before taking them.

Kindness is vital in every single person’s life. It makes the world a better place and can make someone feel loved. With the help of kindness, you can start your good deeds to make the world a better place.

You can find more essays similar to the kindness essay on BYJU’S website. Also, explore a wide range of exciting kids’ learning resources on the website.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is kindness.

Kindness is a simple gesture that can positively impact someone’s life. It also helps people be compassionate and considerate towards others.

Why is kindness important?

Kindness is important because it is our responsibility to be kind to others. This helps people to live in peace and love. As a virtue, kindness is one of the essential things in life. It helps us be empathetic towards people and extend our hands to support them.

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Kindness Quotes to Inspire Positivity and Connection

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Kindness is always a good idea. As Aesop said, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

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Kindness: good for your health, 13 kindness quotes.

Showing kindness — whether it be giving a loved one a warm smile and kind words of encouragement or doing a random act of kindness for a stranger — can benefit a person's life.

While it takes courage to do kind deeds, especially for people you don't know, it can make a difference for them. (Have you ever had a stranger compliment you? It probably felt really nice.)

But kindness does more than connect us to other human beings; it's also good for our health.

"The central idea is that kindness creates positive (supportive and meaningful) social connections, which, in turn, reduce the response to stressors as well as fulfill basic, innate needs that are critical to health and longevity," writes Dr. David A. Fryburg in " Kindness as a Stress Reduction–Health Promotion Intervention: A Review of the Psychobiology of Caring. " "Under the umbrella term of 'kindness' are included related prosocial emotions and behaviors such as caring, generosity, altruism, empathy, gratitude, and compassion."

Not only is kindness a universal language, it's contagious. Seeing more imagery related to kindness can "trigger positive emotional changes, perceived connection to others and behavioral change," according to the publication.

The following quotes capture the power of human kindness:

• Maya Angelou : “My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.”
• Confucius : "Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude."
• Amelia Earhart : "A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees."
• Ralph Waldo Emerson : "You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."
• Fred Rogers : "Being kind means responding to the needs of others — and people can be kind, no matter how old or young we are."
• John Herrington : "I think kindness comes from the heart and if people can see that in you and recognize it in you, hopefully they pass it on to others."
• Eric Hoffer : "Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind."
• Henry James : “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”
• Michelle Obama : “Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses ... swapped back and forth and over again.”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt : “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the figure of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”
• Sophocles : "One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession."
• Desmond Tutu : "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."
• Lao Tzu : "Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”

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The Morning

Tiktok’s pro-china tilt.

A bill that will force the app’s Chinese owners to sell will soon become law.

By David Leonhardt

The debate over TikTok has shifted very quickly. Just a few months ago, it seemed unlikely that the U.S. government would force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell it. The platform is popular, and Congress rarely passes legislation aimed at a single company.

Yet a bipartisan TikTok bill — packaged with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel and Palestinians — is now on its way to becoming law. Late last night, the Senate passed the measure , 79 to 18, three days after the House passed it, 360 to 58. President Biden said he would sign it today. If ByteDance does not sell TikTok within 12 months, it will be banned in the United States.

What explains the turnabout?

I have asked that question of policymakers and their aides in recent weeks and heard a similar answer from many. Parts of the debate over TikTok — about the overall benefits and drawbacks of social media, for instance — are complicated, and they would not justify the forced sale of a single company, the policymakers say. But at least one problem with TikTok falls into a different category.

It has become a leading source of information in this country. About one-third of Americans under 30 regularly get their news from it. TikTok is also owned by a company based in the leading global rival of the United States. And that rival, especially under President Xi Jinping, treats private companies as extensions of the state. “This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government,” Christopher Wray, the director of the F.B.I., has told Congress.

When you think about the issue in these terms, you realize there may be no other situation in the world that resembles China’s control of TikTok. American law has long restricted foreign ownership of television or radio stations, even by companies based in friendly countries. “Limits on foreign ownership have been a part of federal communications policy for more than a century,” the legal scholar Zephyr Teachout explained in The Atlantic .

The same is true in other countries. India doesn’t allow Pakistan to own a leading Indian publication, and vice versa. China, for its part, bars access not only to American publications but also to Facebook, Instagram and other apps.

TikTok as propaganda

Already, there is evidence that China uses TikTok as a propaganda tool.

Posts related to subjects that the Chinese government wants to suppress — like Hong Kong protests and Tibet — are strangely missing from the platform, according to a recent report by two research groups . The same is true about sensitive subjects for Russia and Iran, countries that are increasingly allied with China.

Consider this data from the report:

Subjects missing from TikTok

TikTok hashtags as a percent of Instagram hashtags

Subjects sensitive to

China’s interests

South China

For every 100 Instagram

posts with Taiwan-related

hashtags, there were only

about 7 on TikTok.

Pro-Ukraine

Normal ratios,

given Instagram’s

larger user base

Taylor Swift

Black Lives

Barbie Movie

Hong Kong protests

Subjects sensitive

to China’s interests

Tiananmen Square

South China Sea

For every 100 Instagram posts

with Taiwan-related hashtags,

there were only about 7 on TikTok.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Black Lives Matter

The report also found a wealth of hashtags promoting independence for Kashmir, a region of India where the Chinese and Indian militaries have had recent skirmishes. A separate Wall Street Journal analysis , focused on the war in Gaza, found evidence that TikTok was promoting extreme content, especially against Israel. (China has generally sided with Hamas.)

Adding to this circumstantial evidence is a lawsuit from a former ByteDance executive who claimed that its Beijing offices included a special unit of Chinese Communist Party members who monitored “how the company advanced core Communist values.”

Many members of Congress and national security experts find these details unnerving. “You’re placing the control of information — like what information America’s youth gets — in the hands of America’s foremost adversary,” Mike Gallagher, a House Republican from Wisconsin, told Jane Coaston of Times Opinion. Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat, has called Chinese ownership of TikTok “an unprecedented threat to American security and to our democracy.”

In response, TikTok denies that China’s government influences its algorithm and has called the outside analyses of its content misleading. “Comparing hashtags is an inaccurate reflection of on-platform activity,” Alex Haurek, a TikTok spokesman, told me.

I find the company’s defense too vague to be persuasive. It doesn’t offer a logical explanation for the huge gaps by subject matter and boils down to: Trust us. Doing so would be easier if the company were more transparent. Instead, shortly after the publication of the report comparing TikTok and Instagram, TikTok altered the search tool that the analysts had used, making future research harder, as my colleague Sapna Maheshwari reported .

The move resembled a classic strategy of authoritarian governments: burying inconvenient information.

The coming fight

The fight over TikTok won’t end even when Biden signs the bill. Chinese officials have signaled that they will not allow ByteDance to sell TikTok, and ByteDance plans to fight the law in court. It will have some American allies, too.

On the political left, groups like the A.C.L.U. say that the TikTok bill violates the First Amendment. (You can read the A.C.L.U.’s argument here .) On the right, Jeff Yass, who’s both a TikTok investor and a major Republican campaign donor, is leading the fight against the bill. He is also a former board member at the Cato Institute, which has become a prominent TikTok defender. Yass may be the person who convinced Donald Trump to reverse his position and oppose the bill.

These opponents hope to use TikTok’s popularity among younger Americans to create a backlash in coming weeks. And they may have some success. But they are in a much weaker position than they were a few months ago.

As Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, told me, “The fears that TikTok gives China too much of a way into the U.S. seem to be overriding any political concerns.” There is a long history of members of Congress overcoming partisan divisions to address what they see as a national security threat. Even in today’s polarized atmosphere, it can still happen.

Under the proposed law, ByteDance will have to sell TikTok within 270 days. It will probably have a hard time finding a buyer with enough money .

Read more about the U.S. push to force a sale of TikTok.

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump on trial.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified yesterday that he hatched a plan in 2015 with Trump and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, to help Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign .

That effort entailed publishing positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his rivals, including one falsely linking Ted Cruz’s father to the J.F.K. assassination. It also meant buying and then burying information about possible scandals.

Pecker called Trump “very cautious and very frugal” and “almost a micromanager,” which may help prosecutors show that Trump paid hush money and falsified records to hide a sex scandal.

The judge didn’t rule on whether Trump had violated the gag order that bars him from attacking witnesses and others. But he scolded Trump’s lawyer for not offering evidence in Trump’s defense, saying, “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”

Trump appeared frustrated. At times he yanked his lapels, frowned and shook his head. On social media, he accused Merchan of taking away his rights .

The N.Y.P.D. appears to be using a dump truck to block news photographers from seeing Trump as he enters and exits the courthouse.

The late-night hosts discussed the gag order hearing. “Has Trump ever considered paying himself hush money?” Jordan Klepper asked .

More on Politics

Biden won Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary. A sizable share of Republican primary voters cast ballots for Nikki Haley, even though she dropped out. Here are more takeaways .

In Florida, Biden criticized the state’s six-week abortion ban and urged voters to support a referendum to restore abortion access there.

Tennessee’s legislature passed a bill to allow teachers to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. The governor is likely to sign it.

Israel-Hamas War

Israel says it will expand a humanitarian zone along the Gaza coast if it invades Rafah, a southern city where more than a million displaced Palestinians are living.

Palestinian officials claim to have found mass graves outside two hospitals in Gaza after the withdrawal of Israeli troops there. The U.N. called for an independent investigation .

A class of university students finished training in Gaza a week before the war began. The Times spoke with them to learn how their lives had changed .

Campus Protests

At Columbia, pro-Palestinian student protesters agreed to remove some tents and bar discriminatory language. The school delayed police action to disband the protests while talks continue.

The university’s officials are trying to balance student safety with free speech. Read the inside story of the crisis on campus.

Many universities expect protests to disrupt the end of the school year . Columbia will allow students to attend the last week of classes remotely, and the University of Michigan told students to expect demonstrations at graduation ceremonies.

More International News

Myanmar’s military has cut off phone and internet service in areas controlled by rebel groups. Locals play music to pass the time .

Residents of Kharkiv, Ukraine, are trying to live as normal despite daily Russian attacks. See life in the city .

At least five people died during an attempt to cross the English Channel , including a young girl. They were on an inflatable boat that was overloaded with more than 100 passengers.

Germany arrested an E.U. lawmaker’s aide on suspicion of spying for China .

Horses on the loose galloped through London this morning. One appeared to hit a double-decker bus and smash the windshield.

Other Big Stories

The Justice Department will pay $139 million to resolve claims by women who said they were abused by the former U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.

The Federal Trade Commission banned noncompete clauses , which restrict workers from switching to a rival company in the same industry.

Tesla’s first-quarter profits fell 55 percent . Sales are down, even as the company lowered the price of its cars to attract buyers.

No, officer, he wasn’t drinking: A Belgian man suspected of drunken driving was instead diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome , a rare condition in which the gut makes its own beer.

Administrators allow discrimination against Jewish students that they would never tolerate against other minorities, Bret Stephens argues.

Parents of students suspended by Columbia University and Barnard College wrote a letter to the editor to express their outrage.

Student protesters can make their point without shutting down campus life , John McWhorter , a Columbia professor, writes.

And here is a column by Thomas Edsall on polarization in 2024 .

MORNING READS

Yellowstone: Wolves were thought to have rebalanced the national park’s ecosystem. New research questions that story .

Ask Well: Are nasal sprays addictive? Read what to know .

Creativity: Artists, including Joan Baez, offer advice on squashing self-doubt and procrastination .

Lives Lived: Phyllis Pressman began working at Barneys so she could spend more time with her husband, who had taken over the store from his father. She created Chelsea Passage, the store’s home goods bazaar, a pivot point in Barneys’ evolution from a discount men’s wear store to an elite lifestyle behemoth. She died at 95 .

N.B.A.: Luka Doncic scored 32 points to help the Dallas Mavericks tie their series with the Los Angeles Clippers at 1-1.

N.H.L.: The New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals , 4-3, to take a 2-0 series lead.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Cowboy aesthetics are back in fashion, as seen in Beyoncé’s release of her album “Cowboy Carter.” In his critic’s notebook , the Times reporter Guy Trebay tries to explain what exactly cowboy style is. “How do you arrive at any single meaning of ‘cowboy’ when the stylistic variants run from western to modern to rhinestone to preppy to line-dancing Saturday night buckaroo to Black?” he writes.

More on culture

Meta-morphosis: Mark Zuckerberg, once known for wearing the same outfit regularly, has had a makeover .

A former cameraman for Megan Thee Stallion said he was forced to watch her have sex , and has filed a lawsuit against her for harassment, NBC reports.

The celebrity bag designer Nancy Gonzalez was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling handbags made from protected wildlife skins from Colombia.

David Beckham is suing the fitness brand F45 , which is co-owned by Mark Wahlberg, for an alleged breach of a financial agreement.

X introduced a dedicated app for smart TVs . Elon Musk is trying to expand the company’s video ambitions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Bake sweet and spicy chicken thighs with hot honey and lime.

Build a better grocery budget .

Add a sprint to your exercise routine.

Play pickleball with a good paddle .

Work out with earbuds that won’t fall out.

Here is today’s Spelling Bee . Yesterday’s pangram was ambulant .

And here are today’s Mini Crossword , Wordle , Sudoku , Connections and Strands .

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox . Reach our team at [email protected] .

David Leonhardt runs The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has been an economics columnist, opinion columnist, head of the Washington bureau and founding editor of the Upshot section, among other roles. More about David Leonhardt