Exploring the Effects of Acts of Kindness By Aafia Alladin and Dr. Amy Masnick, PhD Psychology Department, Hofstra University Introduction
Results
● ¹ Neurodiversity involves the belief that one’s difficulty to follow the social norms
or contribute towards society is due to processing information differently rather than symptomatology ● ²This study aims to study the major role of Positive Psychology, which is to promote well-being through prosocial behaviors and lifestyle choices. Positive Psychology explores how individuals thrive and flourish by utilizing resources or strateogies instead of treating pathology ● ³Acts of kindness are considered to be prosocial behavior or actions that can uplift others. Prosocial behavior engagement was positively associated with subjective well-being ● Gratitude involves one displaying a positive emotional reaction when recieving benefits and pondering over their favors. ● 4Self esteem is one’s valuation of the self that comes from the perception of being good or valuable to others ● 5Positive thinking derives from remembering positive events or experiences and suppressing negative thoughts ● 6One who frequently experiences positive emotions is more likely to develop various resilience factors such as environmental mastery or social support ● 7Executive functioning describes complex cognitive abilities that can enhance one’s performance of goal-oriented behavior
Discussion ● Overall, the findings indicate that participants writing a feel better
First ANOVA analysis ● This study used an independent 2 x 2 ANOVA ● There was no main effect in gratitude level change whether participants wrote a card (M=.5294, SD=2.45) or watched/listened to the documentary (M=-.9412, SD=2.33), F(1)=1.684, p=.204). ● There was no main effect in gratitude levels whether the participants identified as neurodiverse (M=-.0833, SD=1.51) or non-neurodiverse (M=-.2727, SD=2.90), (F(1)=.108, p=.744). There was no interaction in gratitude levels between the type of activity and the neurodiverse identification among participants (error=5.629, F(1)=2.341, p=.136).
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card or watching/listening to a portion of a positive psychology documentary didn’t report any significant changes in gratitude, positive thinking, positive mindset, executive control functioning, and self esteem levels. The primary main purpose of this study was to explore the role of acts of kindness among neurodiverse and non-neurodiverse students ²The secondary purpose is to increase awareness on various aspects of Positive Psychology since this area of Psychology is considered to be evolving and more well known to researchers compared to before One main strength is that participants were randomly assigned to either writing a card or watching or listening to a portion of a documentary related to Positive Psychology. Another strength was that some participants identified as neurodiverse, which increases inclusion and representation of another special group. One major limitation was that participants were selected based on specific pools, which aligns with convenience sampling. Another limitation is that there was a small number of participants Primarily, it would be interesting to hear the perspectives of individuals, including those who identify as neurodiverse when it comes to learning about how they engage in their communities. Secondly, this study was directed towards college students and perhaps it would be helpful that we look into how other age groups perform prosocial behaviors and volunteer within their communities
Method ● There were a total of 34 participants (12 neurodiverse, 22 non-neurodiverse) ● One predictor variable is the type of group, specifically the neurodivergent group and the non-neurodiverse group. ● The second predictor variable is the type of activity whether a participant watches/listens to a portion of a Positive Psychology oriented documentary called “Happy” by Roko Belic or wrote a letter for families at the Ronald McDonald House ● The dependent variable is the outcome measures assessing gratitude, positive thinking, positive mindset, executive control functioning, and self esteem levels based on the scales. ● The duration of the activity should take approximately 30 minutes
Materials ● 8The Gratitude (GQ-6) Scale predicts gratitude levels based on a 6 item Likert scale consisting of 7 points from 1 representing strongly disagree to 5 representing strongly agree. ● 9The Positive Thinking Scale focuses on to what extent one’s thinking aligns with positive or negative aspects based on the situations ● 10The Positive Mindset Scale assesses positive mindset levels through a 6 item Bipolar five-point Likert scale with 1 as in the negative extreme to 5 as in the positive extreme in response to six statements on feelings or mindset at the moment such as happiness or confident ● ¹¹The Executive Control Functioning Scale measures general executive functioning aspects through a 4 item Likert scale of 4 points ranging from 1 as in no problems experienced to 4 as in a great many problems experienced with a total of 6 statements ● ¹²The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale incorporates a 10 item Likert scale to measure positive and negative self-esteem levels from 4 points representing 0 as in strongly disagree, 1 as in disagree, 2 as in agree and 3 as in strongly disagree
Fifth ANOVA anslysis ● There was no main effect in self esteem level change whether participants wrote a card (M=.0000, SD=1.27) or watched/listened to the documentary (M=-.3529, SD=2.12), (F(1)=.986, p=.329). ● There was no main effect in self-esteem levels whether the participants identified as neurodiverse (M=-.3333, SD=1.87) or non-neurodiverse (M=-.0909, SD=1.67), (F(1)=.039, p=.844). ● There was no interaction in self-esteem levels between the type of activity and the neurodiverse identification among participants (error=3.717, F(1)=2.399, p=.132).
References
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