Kindness Is Contagious
Teach Your Children Well
Warming the Heart continued...
Haidt acknowledges the difficulties in studying elevation.
Among these is that the phenomenon does not appear to be accompanied by a
distinguishing facial expression -- the kind of trait most often used as a
physical marker for other emotional or psychological states.
"Psychologists are struggling to be scientific about subtle
phenomena," he says. "We tend to gravitate toward any objective marker,
and facial expression is the most expressive marker for emotion."
But Haidt says he believes there is at least one
measurable response associated with elevation: namely, stimulation of the vagus
nerve, which affects heart beat rate. In forthcoming studies, Haidt says he
hopes to induce elevation in subjects, and then measure its effect on the vagus
Perform Random Acts of Kindness
So how might positive psychology and insights into elevation be
applied in real life to parenting and education? Haidt says the principles of
elevation have informed at least one school-based education program.
That program, called "Kindness Is Contagious: Catch
It," began in a single Kansas City, Mo., school and has since spread to
more than 400 public schools in the area, according to Su Ellen Fried, founder
of the Stop Violence Coalition, which now sponsors the school-based
Among the activities the program encourages is one in which
children are asked to fill up two jars with beans. One jar contains a bean for
every time a child receives a put-down, insult, or injury; another jar contains
a bean for every time a child receives a "put-up" or an act of
"It gives kids a visual image of what they are doing to
each other," Fried tells WebMD. "The purpose is to increase the put-ups
and decrease the put-downs."
A second activity is called "Pass It On," in which a
teacher provides a general overview of what kindness is, and then waits to
observe a spontaneous act of kindness among the classmates. When the teacher
witnesses such an act, she or he gives the kind child an object -- say, a red
apple -- and tells the child that he or she is now a witness and must pass the
apple on to whomever performs a similar act of kindness.
"The feedback we got was amazing," Fried says.
"Kids wanted to be observed performing acts of kindness. They were
overdosing on kindness."
Interested parents can purchase two volumes of guidebooks
describing the program and its activities for $20. Write to the Stop Violence
Coalition, 301 East Armour, Suite 440, Kansas City, MO 64111.
Will the program work and truly create an "epidemic" of
kindness? Time will tell, but psychologists say that educational programs
focusing exclusively on the dangers of certain behavior, without corresponding
models of right behavior, are unlikely to succeed.