Key Points
- Explore articles and research on kindness, compassion, connection, and well-being.
- Find books and other recommended resources for learning more about kindness.
- Try practical kindness activities that encourage appreciation, connection, and positivity.
- Access Mason Chooses Kindness marketing materials, toolkits, and the Unit Guidebook to bring kindness into your space.
- Explore the resources and find new ways to put kindness into practice!
Kindness Resources
Explore our collection of Mason Chooses Kindness resources designed to help you learn about kindness and put it into practice. Discover articles and books on kindness, compassion, connection, and well-being; try simple kindness activities; access ready-to-use marketing materials; explore the MCK Toolkit; and use the MCK Unit Guidebook to bring kindness into your department, office, or campus space. You can also learn about the United States of Kindness initiative and find ways to contribute to a kinder university community and beyond.
See articles and books about kindness, connection, and well-being below, and other resources on our other pages in this section.
Attitude of Gratitude by Philip Wilkerson
George Mason’s Philip Wilkerson asked himself, “How do I stay aware of the social issues that black men face without getting jaded or cynical about the world we live in?” In his blog, Philip tells readers that they can still have an attitude of gratitude while simultaneously fighting injustices.
Dr. Christine Porath’s Civility in the Workplace
These articles from author and researcher Dr. Christine Porath explore the importance of kindness at work.
Greater Good Science Center Articles on Kindness
The Greater Good Science Center presents a wealth of articles on the latest research into how kindness impacts well-being.
Some studies found that participants who believed others were generous became more generous themselves. Someone who instead learns that her peers prize empathy will put more work to empathize themselves, even with people who are different from them.
Kindness May Help Socially Anxious People Relax, University of British Columbia
A new study published in the journal Motivation and Emotion by UBC Clinical Psychology professor Dr. Lynn Alden and SFU SSHRC post-doctoral fellow Jennifer Trew suggests performing acts of kindness might help lessen social anxiety. A core treatment goal for social anxiety disorder is to increase involvement in social situations, which socially anxious individuals are motivated to avoid. Social exposure exercises might be enhanced by encouraging anxious individuals to focus on kind actions.
Science Behind Kindness, Catchafire Blog
Each time we release kindness out into the world, no matter how small, a powerful surge of energy pulses through humanity uplifting everyone in its path. To fully understand the true impact of a compassionate act, we need to look at the power of kindness through a scientific lens. The “halo effect” is a cognitive bias where positive traits like kindness influence the overall impression of a person, explaining why displaying kindness makes you more desirable. We possess a powerful privilege to choose kindness. By adopting more intentional actions we can power an ongoing wave of compassionate energy.
The Benefits of Talking to Strangers
Casual connections with people we encounter in the course of daily life can give us the sense of belonging to a community.
Things are uncertain right now. We’ve known for a long time that panic spreads. Experts more recently have come to understand emotional contagion, the mechanism by which people’s emotions (positive or negative) “go viral” within groups, influencing our thoughts and actions. Reducing negative — and bolstering positive — emotional contagion will help us all weather this very unpredictable storm, together.
This website offers free, self-paced classes and activities on kindness.
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
This foundation presents a myriad of kindness resources online, including kindness ideas, kindness quotes, the kindness blog, kindness videos, and kindness stories.
The Science of Kindness, University of Pretoria
This article shares videos and infographics about the science of kindness. Kindness increases, energy, happiness the love hormone, pleasure, serotonin, and a person’s lifespan. Kindness decreases pain, stress, anxiety, depression, and blood pressure. Kindness is teachable and contagious. This means one good deed in a crowded area can create a domino effect and improve the day of dozens of people!
Connections between people hold our culture together. While the Internet can sometimes take away the common ground we need to understand each other, it can also build new communities around kindness.
Why Random Acts of Kindness Matter to Your Well-Being
Small acts of kindness resonate in all our lives. Kindness means a behavioral response of compassion and actions that are selfless; or a mindset that places compassion for others before one’s interests. Kindness is linked inextricably to happiness and contentment—at both psychological and spiritual levels. The miracle of kindness is that it is contagious and something we should all want to pass on and spread to many others.
Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community from Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation features kindness stories from young people who are working for positive change in their communities.
The Kindness Cure: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World by Tara Cousineau, Ph.D. draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to show how simple practices of kindness — for ourselves, for others, and for our world — can dissolve our feelings of fear and indifference, and open us up to a life of profound happiness.