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Research Projects
- Science of Generosity: Causes, Manifestations and Consequences of Generous Behaviors
- The Social Contagion of Generosity
- The Family Cycle of Kindness and Generosity
- Religious Institutions and Generosity: Catholicism and Islam
- The Inherent Sociality of Giving and Altruism
- Attachment Formation, Compassion and Generosity
- Does Microfinancing Promote Generosity?
- The Foundations of Marital Generosity
- The Neural Circuitry Underlying Altruistic Behavior
- Generosity from an Intercultural Perspective
- The Causes and Effects of Workplace Generosity
- The Causes of Intergenerational Generosity
- The Development of Prosocial Behavior
- The Socioeconomic Basis of Generosity in Britain
Author Archives: science-of-generosity
The generous marriage
New York Times reporter Tara Parker-Pope just did a story on some Science of Generosity research conducted by Brad Wilcox, who is finding that generosity is an integral part of a happy marriage. The whole story is here.
Posted in Happiness, Kindness, Marriage and society, The Foundations of Marital Generosity
Tagged generosity and marriage
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Wall Street Journal story on generosity research
Pulitzer prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter Kevin Helliker recently did a story about early results from Ariel Knafo’s project, “The Family Cycle of Kindness and Generosity.” Knafo and his group discovered a genetic idiosyncrasy in young children that is … Continue reading
Posted in Family kindness and generosity, Kindness, Prosocial behavior, The Development of Prosocial Behavior
Tagged teaching generosity to children
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How cooperation spreads in social networks
In a paper recently published in the PNAS, Sci Gen researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler found that members of social networks are influenced by fellow group members’ contribution behavior in future interactions with others who were not involved in … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation in social networks, Generosity and social networks, Prosocial behavior, Uncategorized
Tagged cooperation in social networks, cooperative behavior
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What causes parents to transmit generosity?
In October co-Investigator Ye Zhang presented the paper “What Motives Cause Parents to Transmit Generosity?” (co-authored with Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm) at the Conference on the Economics of the Family in Paris. The conference, hosted by the Institut National d’Etudes démographiques, the … Continue reading
Posted in Intergenerational Causes of Generosity, Prosocial behavior
Tagged intergenerational generosity, transmitting generosity to children
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How good is good enough?
OK… So What Now? is a series of first person investigations into the moral and ethical challenges of leading an examined life. Each episode centers around one dilemma from our modern life, and features interviews with guests who have some … Continue reading
Posted in Decisionmaking, Intergenerational Causes of Generosity, Prosocial behavior, The Development of Prosocial Behavior, Uncategorized
Tagged decisionmaking, generosity, giving
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Being happy at work
We’ve recently been taking a more detailed look at our pilot study data and tried to identify the behavioral consequences of practicing positive activities at work. According to some preliminary analysis two interesting relationships seem to be have emerging. First, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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How one sociologist developed an interest in generosity
For most of my career, I never thought about generosity as interesting to study, except perhaps as one component of broader “prosocial” outcome measures. Regarding financial giving, for instance, issues around charitable donations, philanthropy, and non-profit budgets always struck me … Continue reading
Posted in Expressions and Consequences of Generosity
Tagged charity, Financial giving, philanthropy
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Doing good, one network at a time
How we are connected affects the properties of an entire society, generally for good. This aspect of network science is what got us excited about the field in the first place. Working in areas such as collaboration, innovation, and health, … Continue reading
Posted in Generosity and social networks
Tagged Generosity and social networks, Network science
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Does marital generosity flow outward?
My interest in the relationship between generosity in marriage and generosity outside of marriage was first stimulated by the graduate work of Young Kim, who recently received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Virginia. Based upon his life … Continue reading
The evolutionary roots of human generosity
One of the most important issues in research on generosity and other prosocial behaviors is to determine the similarities and differences between humans and other animals: What aspects are actually unique to humans and what aspects have deeper evolutionary roots? … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution and generosity, The Development of Prosocial Behavior
Tagged Evolution and generosity
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