Compassion Makes People Happy
People who treat others with compassion often feel more at ease themselves. This is the key finding of a new study by Majlinda Zhuniq, Dr. Friedericke Winter, and Professor Corina Aguilar-Raab from the University of Mannheim. The study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
While the link between self-compassion and well-being is well established, this effect has hardly been researched with respect to compassion for others. In a meta-analysis, the research team analyzed data from more than 40 individual studies. The results showed that people who empathize with others, support them, or want to help them report greater overall life satisfaction, experience more joy, and see more meaning in life. On average, these people’s psychological well-being was higher. The link between compassion and a reduction in negative feelings, such as stress or sadness, was weaker, however, slight positive trends could also be seen in this respect.
Scientifically speaking, compassion is described as the ability to recognize the suffering of others, react to it emotionally, and be motivated to alleviate this suffering. This means, for example, offering someone in a distressing situation practical help or providing a little relief in everyday life.