From: Pacific Standard
From Humbug! to Humble: The Power of the Scrooge Effect
April 21, 2015
Pacific Standard:
Last fall, we reported on a study that found people who are reminded of their own mortality are prone to buying more stuff. If that made us seem a little shallow (life is short, so let’s go to the mall!), newly published research provides some consolation.
It finds mortality reminders can also make us more generous. What’s more, they also increase that feeling of well-being that comes from doing a good deed.
“Acting pro-socially in the face of mortality thoughts effectively soothes death anxiety, and in turn produces psychological satisfaction,” according to Polish researchers Tomasz Zaleskiewicz and Agata Gasiorowska, and Pelin Kesebir of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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