Kindness

Kindness refers to a general inclination or tendency to be warm and affectionate toward others, to be concerned about their welfare, and to act in a charitable and cooperative manner. Key to this conceptualization is an emphasis on intrinsically motivated behavior. That is, kindness stems from the notion that a positive regard for others is a value unto itself rather than an instrumental means to achieve a goal such as gain in status or a larger reward sometime in the future. There is no consensus measure that captures the complexity of this multidimensional construct, and consequently, researchers use disparate methods to assess it, including (but not limited to) questionnaire measures, laboratory-based tasks of social interaction, and field experiments. The relative influence of personality versus situation ...