Scientists to generosity Why giving gives us much happier

Generous people are happier
Life is a take and give, it says in an old saying. This is not quite balanced. Some people are significantly more generous than others - and therefore happier. According to researchers, generative behavior and feelings of happiness are linked in our brain.

Giving makes you happy
Generosity makes people happier. Less happy are people who act out of pure self-interest. It is secondary to how generous one behaves. Already the firm promise to be more generous triggers a change in the brain that makes us happier. This is what researchers from the universities of Lübeck and Zurich and the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago found out in a study.

Not only to get something is good, but also to give. Because generous behavior and feelings of happiness are linked in our brains, researchers report. (Image: Gregory Lee / fotolia.com)

Increased happiness
Some people are surprisingly generous; They like to give presents to others, help with the process of moving or water the flowers when someone is on vacation.

However, generous behavior is always associated with costs; You have to invest time or money to bring benefits to others. One possible motivation, which nevertheless drives us to be generous towards others, is an increase in our own happiness.

Several studies have shown that subjects who are generous with others report afterwards a heightened sense of happiness.

"This feeling of happiness through a good deed is also referred to as 'warm-glow', which in German can be translated as 'comforting feeling'", explains Prof. Dr. med. Soyoung Park, first author of the study in a communication from the University of Lübeck.

Do something good
However, how well we feel happier when we have done something good to someone else has not been known yet. The scientists investigated this question with the help of a functional magnetic resonance imaging study (fMRI).

Their goal was to find out if - and if so how - generous behavior and feelings of happiness in our brains are connected.

At the beginning of the experiment conducted in Switzerland, the 50 subjects were awarded a sum of money - 25 Swiss francs (about 23 euros) - which they would receive and spend in the coming weeks.

One half of the volunteers undertook to spend the money on a person they knew, for example, by giving them a present. The other half (control group) committed to use the money for themselves.

Generosity and happiness dependent
The money did not really get the participants. Immediately following their pledge, they were immediately asked to participate in another investigation.

They were asked unprepared to perform an independent task in the fMRI scanner. During this task they had to make decisions that varied according to the measure of their generosity and the costs involved.

At the beginning and at the end of the study it was also asked how happy the subjects felt. As a result, the researchers were able to record brain activity changes that are both generous and dependent on happiness.

The results of the study have now been published in the journal "Nature Communications".

Activity studied in different brain areas
While the subjects made their decision for or against generous behavior, the activity was studied in three brain areas. Depending on whether the participants committed themselves to generosity or selfishness, these areas interacted differently.

The participants of the experimental group decided more generously compared to the control group. In addition, the task group stated after the task to be happier than the control group.

"We were thus able to confirm that there is a connection between generous behavior and feelings of happiness," says Prof. Dr. med. Soyoung Park from the University of Lübeck the results together.

Generic behavior thus seems to be linked to feelings of happiness in the brain and thus possibly to be driven.

Strategy for happiness
"It is noteworthy that mere intent generates a neuronal change before it is actually put into action," explains Philippe Tobler from the University of Zurich in a statement.

"A communicated promise of generous behavior could be used as a strategy to reinforce the desired behavior and simply to feel happier," says Tobler.

According to Park, however, "there are still a few questions left to explore". For example, whether the effect lasts "when used consciously". (Ad)