Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 2

If you want to help, your goal should not be to feel good about helping. Your goal should be to actually help. And the trouble is that the strategies that make us feel best about our giving are often not the strategies that do the most good.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

Most of us want to make a difference in the world. But when we try to figure out how to do that — how to direct our time and money — we often fall prey to a predictable set of biases. We're swayed by emotional appeals rather than evidence. We give to causes that are visible rather than causes that are most in need. And we vastly underestimate how much good we can do.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

Most of us want to help others, but we often focus on the wrong things. We tend to act in ways that feel good rather than ways that do good.

Hidden Brain

How to Make a Difference: Part 1

Most people, when they think about making a difference, think about the size of the action. But research suggests that what matters more is whether the action is targeted — whether it's aimed at a specific person or group of people. When we try to help everyone, we often end up helping no one.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of emotional support as something we offer through words — by listening carefully, saying the right things, or sharing a person's burden. But researcher Michael Poulin has found that giving help to others, not receiving it, is what buffers people against the harmful effects of stress. In study after study, he found that people who helped others were less likely to die than those who didn't, even after accounting for their overall health.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

We all have moments in our lives when we see someone who could use a helping hand. We tell ourselves we should help, but then something stops us.