A university has launched a Kindness Institute.
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) wants to build on scientific proof that random acts of kindness can improve one’s well-being, and so the school is taking steps to empower citizens and inspire leaders to study actions, thoughts and feelings associated with this.
Darnell Hunt, deal of UCLA’s vision of social sciences, said: “In the midst of current world politics, violence, and strife, the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute seeks to be an antidote.”
Meanwhile, the foundation’s co-founder Matthew Harris added: “Our vision is that we will all live in a world where humanity discovers and practices the kindness that exists in all of us. Much research is needed to understand why kindness can be so scarce in the modern world.”
According to Live Science, the university received $20 million from The Bedari Foundation, a private family foundation, to establish the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, a center designed to probe the “evolutionary, biological, psychological, economic, cultural and sociological” basis of kindness, according to an announcement. Previously, separate groups of UCLA researchers have tackled questions regarding the nature of kindness: How does kindness spread between people? How does kindness shape our brains and behavior? How can unkind people be compelled to change their ways?
