Sometimes we are less kind than we would like, because we don’t know “HOW” to be kind. Today I discuss a prerequisite for kindness that I believe is under appreciated – kindness needs a period of time to take root and to be regularly initiated. More specifically, I discuss how the degree to which we feel rushed in our everyday life influences the helping behaviors of individuals.

I want to tell you about an experiment I read about many, many years ago and the lesson that has stayed with me all this time.

The year is 1973. Two young psychologists from Princeton get their study published in a prestigious journal of psychological research*. The inspiration for their study was Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, which is found in the Gospel of Luke (and only in the Gospel of Luke). The researchers were not shy about acknowledging the inspiration for their study. The first part of the study’s title is the imaginative phrase “From Jerusalem to Jericho.” The latter half refers back to the more customary verbiage found in journals of social psychology: “A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior.”

What did this study set out to explore? The authors conducted their study in a seminary – a school for priests-in-training. This allowed them to explore the seminarians’ religious views as part of the study without raising eyebrows. In the first part of the study, the researchers had the study subjects complete questionnaires in a certain building on campus. For the second part of the study, the subjects were to present a short talk in another building.

The true intent of the study was to investigate these seminarians’ behavioral responses to what they encountered while walking from one building to the other. A member of the research team was positioned by the side of the road that connected the buildings and pretended to be a person in distress. Each time a study subject approached, this shabbily dressed assistant slumped, moaned, and coughed. Each subject was rated on their response. Zero was given to those seminarians who failed to notice that the victim was in distress. A score of one was given to those who noticed but did nothing. The scores then ranged up to a score of 5. This highest score of 5 was reserved for subjects who not only stopped to inquire about the victim’s welfare and offered to help, but also refused to leave him until help arrived.

What did the researchers find? They found that the subjects in a hurry to get to the other building (because they were intentionally given little time to get there) were more likely to pass the person in distress without stopping to help, as compared to subjects not in a rush. Wow, how much time a person has directly impacts their caring behavior.

Another astounding result of this study relates to two other variables studied that were found not to make a significant difference in whether the seminarians stopped to help. First, the researchers tested whether the assigned topic for the seminarians’ talk correlated with the likelihood of their helping behavior. Half of these seminarians were assigned an unrelated non-helping topic to discuss and half were assigned the parable of the Good Samaritan. The topic did not make a significant difference to how many subjects stopped to help! Second, the researchers assessed whether the subjects’ “religious personality” type made a difference in whether they stopped to help or not. It also was found not to make a difference.

What implications does this have for us? As physicians, we are in a profession categorized as one that works the longest hours per week. Also, irrespective of profession, life only seems to get more hectic. If you feel you’re in a continual race, whether a rat race or not, you are not alone.

My question for us, for you and me, is how do we slow down enough to enjoy this gift of life? To have enough time to focus and be present? To have the wherewithal to spend meaningful time with family and friends … and patients? To become the kinder person we strive to be?

* “From Jerusalem to Jericho”: A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior. John M Darley and C. Daniel Batson. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1973, Vol 27, No.1, 100-108

Until next time,

Dr. Jack

LanguageBrief

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Jennifer Dukes Lee
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Christian Nestell Bovee