Poll: Americans feel better after small acts of kindness

Key takeaways:

• A survey found performing small acts of kindness makes 89% of Americans feel better.
• Little gestures, like giving someone a compliment, are “meaningful in bolstering us in the day-to-day.”

Small acts of kindness make most U.S. adults feel better, whether they are receiving them or giving them, according to the results of a recent poll by the American Psychiatric Association.

“When we are feeling stressed or sad, doing something for others, no matter how small, boosts our mood,” APA President Petros Levounis, MD, MA, said in a press release. “Whether it is an innate response that rewards altruistic behavior or a mental reframing that puts positivity in the world, doing something for someone else makes us feel better. That’s so helpful as we deal with life’s complications, whether it is the news or personal challenges.”

In APA’s most recent Healthy Minds Poll, 89% of U.S. adults surveyed said an act of kindness made them feel better — either “significantly” (45%), “somewhat” (27%) or “a little” (17%). When receiving acts of kindness, the results were almost the same: 47% felt “significantly better,” 27% “somewhat better” and 16% a “little better.”

Also when receiving an act of kindness, most reported feeling “happy” (56%) or “grateful” (51%) rather than “indifferent” or “suspicious” (each 3%).

The survey, fielded by Morning Consult, reached 2,210 adults between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19. It also found that the vast majority of U.S. adults (93%) have performed a small act of kindness in the past 3 months, including:

• saying hello to a stranger (69%);
• holding a door open for someone (68%);
• giving someone a compliment (65%);
• checking in on someone who seemed down or depressed (39%);
• donating goods (33%) or money (24%) to a charitable cause;
• giving up their seat for someone (19%);
• paying someone else’s tab (17%); and
• volunteering or participating in a charity event (11%).

These small acts of kindness and other gestures are “meaningful in bolstering us in the day-to-day,” particularly during the holiday season and amid “disturbing, horrific events in the news,” APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, said.

“The next time you are in line to pay for food, tell the cashier to take care of the next person’s bill, say ‘I am paying it forward for the person behind me,’ and leave,” Levin said. “Then, consider what you have just done to make that person’s day and the smile it will bring them.”