How small acts of kindness can really change the world, according to a study by Kansas Reflector

Political abysses, wars, oppression… it’s easy to feel hopeless and helpless when you watch the play of these dark forces. In the face of so much devastation, could any of us ever make a real difference?

Given the magnitude of the world’s problems, it might feel like the small acts of human connection and solidarity over which you have control are akin to putting Band-Aids on gunshot wounds. It can be naive to imagine that small actions could make a global difference.

As a psychologist, human relationship researcher, and audience member, I was inspired when musician Hozier performed counterpoint at a performance this year. “The small gestures of love and solidarity we offer each other can have a big impact…,” he told the crowd. “I believe that the core of people is generally good – I really am. I will die on this hill.”

I’m happy to report that the science agrees with him.

Research shows that individual acts of kindness and connection can have a real impact on global change when those acts are collective. This applies on multiple levels: between individuals, between people and institutions, and between cultures.

This relational micro-activism is a powerful force for change – and serves as an antidote to hopelessness because, unlike global problems, these small actions are within the individual’s control.

Abstract becomes real through relationships

Theoretically, the idea that small, interpersonal actions have big effects can be explained by what psychologists call cognitive dissonance: the discomfort you feel when your actions and beliefs don’t match.

For example, imagine two people who like each other. One believes that fighting climate change is crucial, the other believes that climate change is a political ploy. Cognitive dissonance occurs: they like each other but disagree. People crave cognitive balance. So the more these two like each other, the more motivated they are to listen to each other.

So, according to this model, the more you strengthen your relationships through acts of connection, the more likely you are to empathize with these other individual perspectives. When these efforts are collective, they can strengthen understanding, compassion and community in society at large. Topics like war and oppression can feel overwhelming and abstract, but the abstract becomes real when you connect with someone you care about.

So does this theory hold up when it comes to real data?

Small acts of bonding change attitudes

Numerous studies demonstrate the power of individual acts of connection to drive larger change.

For example, researchers studying the political divide in the United States found that participants who self-identified as Democrats or Republicans “disliked” people in the other group, largely due to negative assumptions about the other person’s morals. People also said they valued morals such as fairness, respect, loyalty and the desire to avoid harming others.

I’m intentionally leaving out which political group preferred which characteristics – they all sound like positive characteristics, don’t they? Although participants believed they disliked each other for political reasons, they all also valued qualities that benefited a relationship.

One interpretation of these results is that the more people gradually show each other that they are loyal friends and community members who want to prevent harm from coming to others, the more they can mitigate major social and political disagreements.

Even more compelling, another study found that Hungarian and Romanian students — people from ethnic groups with a history of social tensions — who reported maintaining strong friendships with each other also reported improved attitudes toward the other group. A difficult friendship with someone from the other group actually harmed attitudes toward the other ethnic group as a whole. Again, promoting the quality of relationships, even on an objectively small scale, had powerful effects on reducing tensions on a large scale.

In another study, researchers examined prejudice toward what psychologists call an outgroup: a group to which one does not belong, whether due to ethnicity, political affiliation, or simply preference for dogs over cats.

They asked participants to think about the positive qualities of a person they knew or about their own positive qualities. When participants wrote about the positive qualities of another person rather than themselves, they later reported lower levels of prejudice toward an out-group—even if the person they were writing about had no connection to that out-group. Here, approaching the appreciation of others rather than moving away from prejudice was an effective way to change preconceived beliefs.

So small acts of connection can change personal attitudes. But can they really influence societies?

From one to one to society as a whole

Each person is embedded in their own network with the people and world around them, what psychologists call their social ecology. Compassionate changes at any level of a person’s social ecology—internal, interpersonal, or structural—can impact all other levels in a kind of positive feedback loop or upward spiral.

For example, both system-level anti-discrimination programs in schools and interpersonal support among students interact to shape the school environment for students from historically marginalized groups. Individual actions also play a key role in these positive domino effects.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Liza M. Hinchey is a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Wayne State University. Kansas Reflector’s Opinion section works to amplify the voices of people affected by public policy or excluded from public debate. Here you will find information, including the opportunity to submit your own comment.