Christmas, Three Wise Men, birthdays, anniversaries … on all those dates we usually receive gifts from our loved ones. And while it may be hard to believe, some studies have shown that receiving gifts is not as pleasant as giving them. The generosity of prosocial acts also seems to have its place in the brain. In fact, Hugh Crago (2012), relates it more to the right hemisphere of the brain. In another study, in 2010, Elisabeth W. Dunn and her team found that adults were happier when they spent money on other people than when they spent it on themselves.
Recently, an article published in PLOS One (2012) indicated that this phenomenon can also be observed in very young children, who are generally assumed to be more egotistical and selfish. In the study, conducted by a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia, they wanted to find out whether children under two years of age showed more signs of happiness when or when they received a gift in the form of a candy.
Two independent observers coded the children’s faces on a scale from 1 ‘Not happy’ to 7 ‘Very happy’. The children’s emotional expressions were compared over various moments: receiving treats, seeing how the experimenter gave a treat to a stuffed animal, giving someone else’s treat to a stuffed animal, or giving it a treat of their own. The results showed that the children not only did not show displeasure when giving gifts, but also showed more happiness when they gave the treat to the stuffed animal than when they received it themselves. More significantly, their faces reflected more happiness when they gave one of their own treats to the stuffed animal, which was the case regardless of the degree of enthusiasm shown by the stuffed animal (handled by the experimenter).
According to the authors, these results could be taken as support for the idea that happiness could act as a reward that makes us repeat these prosocial behaviors over and over again, beyond pure socialization or the role of education in these habits.
If you want to feel as happy as these children, just think of a loved one and give them an original gift. And if that gift can also improve his brain and yours, then the joy is double.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
