Greater Good - The Science of a Meaningful Life

Articles: Religious People Less Motivated by Compassion than Atheists

In three experiments co-sponsored by the GGSC, scientists found that compassion drove less religious people to be more generous.

Articles: How Altruistic is the Greater Good Community?

The results are in from the Greater Good altruism quiz—and it turns out that gender, age, and income have significant connections to generosity.

Research Digest Items: The Selfless Chimp

Articles: Pro-Social Primates

Yale psychologist Laurie Santos explains why we should get inside monkeys' minds.

Research Digest Items: Why We Help Strangers

Articles: Staying Sober through Service

A researcher finds that helping others might be the secret weapon in the fight against addiction.

Articles: How to Get Doctors to Give a Hand

Study suggests appealing to altruism increases hand washing in hospitals.

Articles: Steven Pinker’s War and Peace, Abridged

If you're curious about Steven Pinker's massive new book, check out this Greater Good essay for a distilled version.

Articles: Steven Pinker’s History of (Non)Violence

The psychologist's latest book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, is essential reading for any reader of Greater Good.

Articles: The Limits of David Brooks’ “Limits of Empathy”

Does empathy lead to altruism? The New York Times columnist gets it wrong.

Research Digest Items: Kindness Calculations

Research Digest Items: Bad Mood, Good Deeds

Articles: Feeling Connected Makes Us Kind

A recent study suggests that our social connections inspire altruism.

Articles: Debunking the Myth of Human Selfishness

Two new books explore the far-reaching science of cooperation.

Articles: Kindness Makes You Happy… and Happiness Makes You Kind

New research suggests that once you start doing nice things for other people, you might not want to stop.