11 scientific studies that will restore your faith in humanity
There are plenty of reasons, scientifically tested, to have hope for the future
Reading a lot about the science of human behavior can make you cynical, sometimes deservedly so, but cynical nonetheless.
On this blog I try to be accurate and useful and, as I have posted, research shows there is great power in optimism and hope.
So I want to take a second to step back from brass tacks and take a look at some studies that can renew a faith in humanity.
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The world is not always fair. The bad are not always punished and the good do not always prevail.
But there are plenty of reasons, scientifically tested, to have hope and be positive about the future.
1) You bounce back better from tougher problems.
From a study by Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness:
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2) Regret is not that scary.
We anticipate regret will be much more painful than it actually is. Studies show we consistently overestimate how regret affects us.
Another one from Stumbling on Happiness author Daniel Gilbert.
3) "What does not kill you makes you stronger" is often true.
Individuals who went through the most awful events came out stronger than those who did not face any adversity.
4) Reverse PTSD exists: Sometimes terrible events make us better people.
Tragedy not only can make us stronger, it can also make us better human beings.
5) Rarely in life are you limited by your genes.
How often does natural talent limit what you are capable of?
In ~95 percent of cases, it doesn't.
6) You don't need to win the lottery to be happy.
Very happy people don't experience more happy events than less happy people.
7) Helping others helps you.
Undergrads who wrote letters of encouragement to "at-risk" middleschoolers advising them to persevere and that intelligence "is not a finite endowment but rather an expandable capacity" became, themselves, happier and better in school for months afterward.
Truth is, there were no middleschoolers. Just writing the letters achieved these results.
8) "Both hope and despair are self-fulfilling prophecies."
Bloodwork performed on soldiers in challenging situations shows the body is stressed by the perceived, not actual, difficulty of circumstances.
9) Trusting too much is better than trusting too little.
People were asked how much they trust others on a scale of 1 to 10. Income peaked at those who responded with the number 8.
Those with the highest levels of trust had incomes 7 percent lower than the 8's. Research shows they are more likely to be taken advantage of.
Those with the lowest levels of trust had an income 14.5 percent lower than 8's. That loss is the equivalent of not going to college. They missed many opportunities by not trusting.
10) Sometimes, empathy beats objectivity.
From my interview with Wharton Professor Adam Grant, author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success:
And one more:
11) The most powerful goals aren't about being perfect; they're about getting better.
Get-better goals increase motivation, make tasks more interesting and replenish energy. This effect even carries over to subsequent tasks.
And getting better is what this blog is all about.
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