Rewarding the Undermined Gems Episode 3: @iamjadeline Support Rally and the Science of Kindness

Today, I want to combat the myth of "Humans are generally selfish" and want to propose that kindness is in our intuition. However, this is not the universal truth and yes it is situational. I am NOT saying there are no selfish people out there or selfishness exhibited. This is based on one of my case study of rallying support and funds for @iamjadeline and family who went through a difficult time.

Hence, this post serves 2 purposes:

1. Investigating on the science of kindness within humanity
2. Showing a proof of transfer from my wallet to @iamjadeline for the upvote from my Discovering Undermined Gems #4: @iamjadeline's Family and #motivateme Quote of the Day Challenge from @theluvbug post
   and thanking all the generous souls whom I have met on Steemit

Can Kindness Be An Instilled Instinct Within Humans?

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I checked on myself and realized anytime I decided to show acts of kindness, it comes first with an intuition or an instinct. It would suddenly just overwhelm me and sometimes "takes over" with a lot of enthusiasm, even if I may not be comfortable doing it and sometimes a little reluctant to step out of my comfort zone. But you see, I know myself too to be honest with myself. This is a promise I made to myself to always be true and real with myself and God. Of course I aim and target to be a kind person like Jesus but I know I can be really mean and even cruel sometimes, especially when I am angry or pissed too. It makes me wonder even more, how can kindness still sprung out of me (and you) as and when the situation arise?

Kindness is the act of trying to help others when they are in need and in difficult times. I started my Discovered the Undermined Gems series with just a leading in my heart and I obeyed it, without too much thoughts. If I do all the thinking especially on the discomfort of stepping out, I will probably won't even start the series until now. That is why I suspect that kindness is an instinct inborn. When I did the post to invite Steemit users to join me on a support rally for @iamjadeline, I bet many of you did not even hesitate even though you are technically strangers to us. It just happened the way human nature is wired to be!

In this article by Melissa Dahl titled Kindness Is Intuitive — It’s Overthinking That Leads to Selfish Behavior, she mentioned that self-centeredness only happens when we overthink. In general studies, we humans would choose to be kind rather than selfish.

What’s more, further tests of this finding have revealed that when people are in a time crunch, they tend to act with greater generosity. And the opposite is true, too: When given time to think it over, people tend to choose the option that serves themselves over the one that would best serve others. “Most people think we are intuitively selfish,” Yale psychologist David Rand told Nautilus, “[but] our lab experiments show that making people rely more on intuition increases cooperation.” Source

In a research conducted by David Rand, Martin Nowak and Joshua Greene, they collected data from 10 experiments when people were divided into groups of 4 and be tested with some money in hand. They are allowed to put some money into the pool or keep all of their money to themselves without sharing. The result was most people gave something. This was used to conclude that our "default" seems to be generosity over selfishness. Later, half of the subjects are given a time frame to make their decisions whilst another half of them can make their decision without time constraint. This time, those who were under time pressure, they responded faster and the amount given was even more than those who were given time to contemplate. By deducing that lesser time is given is equated to being instinctive, kindness is inferred to be magnified when we do it without much thinking, suggesting it can be part of our natural default mode.

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Randoms acts of kindness like helping a stranger even to the extent of risking lives are commonly reported on news when a tragedy hits. We just automatically would not ignore when circumstances arise. It is just not HUMAN. Having said that, I am sure all of us here have also been treated unkindly one way or another. Just because of that one or two or even frequent mistreatment, we cannot say kindness does not exist within us and it is no longer instinctive because it will be tested in intense situations and it may just "pop" up again. Our attitude of kindness is not determined by how others treat us, if we choose to remain to be powerful people who can choose our response in difficult times. Here are some wonderful stories of what a stranger can do in distress times.

In a different set of studies, Joshua Greene and Jonathan Cohen of Princeton University found that when subjects contemplated harm being done to others, a similar network of regions in their brains lit up. Our children and victims of violence—two very different subjects, yet united by the similar neurological reactions they provoke. This consistency strongly suggests that compassion isn’t simply a fickle or irrational emotion, but rather an innate human response embedded into the folds of our brains. Source

Neuroscientists James Rilling and Gregory Berns fromthe Emory University also found out that there is a triggered brain activity when we help others in the portions of the brain which is switched on when we experience pleasure or rewards, called the caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate. It showed the same activity as the fulfillment of our own personal desires. Hence why there is a saying in Chinese, 助人为快乐之本 (translated as helping others bring happiness to our own selves too), though we do not help others in order just for ourselves to feel good, and not using that as the motivation. People who smile more, friendly gestures and being more helpful are also recorded to have higher levels of oxytocin (the hormone responsible for commitment and uplifting the mood). Being kind may compel our body to a chemical reaction in our body to want to be kind again.

On the other hand, kindness can also be learned. I have expounded on learning kindness in one of my older series, Fruits and Values Series here. It is an attribute that keeps humanity going. I may not be kind all the time, and I know I cannot be emotionally manipulated to be kind too. I do not take it well when people come to show off to me the need of sympathy or pity. It has to come out from me organicly and sometimes deliberately. Well, that's me.

I love it that there are many scientific evidences that say that kindness is natural to be shown by us mankind. We are by nature kind, which explains why you and I sprung into action when you read my post and other posts, motivating you wanting to help. I hereby thank you for listening to your instincts!

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Rewarding The Undermined Gems Episode 3: @iamjadeline and family

If you missed my Discovering Undermined Gems #4: @iamjadeline's Family and #motivateme Quote of the Day Challenge from @theluvbug post
, I featured @iamjadeline in this post and rallied a support from Steemit. Boy and oh my, the response was overwhelming and honestly, I was stunned by it when I read my post the following day when it exploded beyond $100. I almost could not believe it and quickly dropped a messaged to @iamjadeline to ask her to check her wallet. Of course, I am ever so thankful to @jaynie who rallied the whole family of @steemitbloggers, @giantbear as well as @steemiteducation who helped me to expose my posts and not forget to mention, all the 57 resteems from you too. Your resteem and tagging of some people have helped me gained the exposure that I alone can never get.

Screenshot of the payout received after 7 days, for both author and curators.

I redeemed 48.609SBD to my wallet with 12.78 SP before I transferred to @iamjadeline.

Since I initiated some funding through my post, I think I SHOULD also create a post for the same purpose. Whether you are following a curation trail or not, every of your upvote counts and contributed to the final payout which was $48.609 in SBD and the rest came in as SP. I double checked with @iamjadeline if she wants the SP to be converted and how I can do that for her but she being a generous person too, asked me to keep the SP for myself (hope you all don't mind about this).

Here is my proof of transfer to @iamjadeline as the upfundme rally collection from all of your upvotes:

Thanking All the Generous Kind Souls

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I know many of you have also upvoted @iamjadeline's posts and here is her thank you post to you if you missed it:
💖 THANK YOU to you & you & you 💖 | Jansen's 7-days Hospital Admission | Steemit is beyond just blogging.

Thank you for giving your time to read and also send SBDs /Steem into my or @iamjadeline's wallet. I am very touched by this great kindness from all of you all over the world and we have not even met. I'm very thankful for this wonderful community we have on this platform. May your great and kind hearts be rewarded too as kindness begets kindness.

Here is to thank all of you for you kindness and generosity shown, hopefully not missing any of you out:
@donkeypong, @justtryme90, @hanshotfirst, @analisa, @kachinhenry, @hopehuggs, @sportspodium, @steemiteducation, @ikrahch, @giantbear, @inciter, @hendrikdegrote, @velimir, @jaynie, @uwelang, @surfermarly, @ceepee, @kevinwong, @pharesim, @jacor, @tecnosgirl, @meanmommy33, @zord189, @perennial, @qurator-tier-1-2, @thekittygirl, @uniwhisp, @shuta, @sireh, @bluemist, @steemitbloggers, @edward-ong, @coloringiship, @fraenk, @byn, @asapers, @redrica, @raj808, @sweetpea, @meerkat, @minnowsupport, @corina, @curie, @jatinhota, @lynncoyle1, @borrowedearth, @hanbun, @derekrichardson, @yandot, @connie1018, @insideoutlet, @sam.hsuu, @nomadicsoul, @bafi, @teachblogger, @theluvbug, @rambai, @moonbot, @kushed, @elliebong, @littlenewthings, @erangvee, @shoganaii, @bigbear, @crosheille, @aurah, @damira, @cookntell, @joannewong, @raymondspeaks, @anwenbaumeister, @zhusatriani, @dylanhobalart, @shai-hulud, @metzli, @helenoftroy, @jusipassetti, @bobinson, @alvinauh, @andreajane, @bala41288, @prch, @elvielins, @bali-om, @chrismccron, @apanamamama, @soonmusic, @anneke, @arcange, @veenang, @frieda, @rwedegis, @kaerpediem, @viverridae, @myach, @papacrusher, @shuazir, @vanessahampton, @alishi, @yekrats, @gillianpearce, @inalittlewhile, @claudiaz, @coachmelleow, @thelovejunkie, @vinnu, @schoolforsdg4, @wdougwatson, @kimmiecfields, @maverickfoo, @rehanrhapsody, @poodai, @hitmeasap, @elizacheng, @spellmaker, @zapzap, @yourluckyphotos, @fataelrumy, @nanastraybutt, @cifer, @sbi2, @heartscally, @superoo7, @jiay, @bitrocker2020, @bobdos, @cikxaijen, @massivevibration, @serarious, @watersnake101, @roselifecoach, @joii, @nanawawa, @googlybot, @verasj, @azizbd, @frankabelle, @liberosist, @mutitum, @chloephuan93, @hooiyewlim, @abgmie, @khimgoh, @orangila, @gtpjfoodbank, @zhafiqkun, @poeticammo, @honoru, @liewsc, @broncofan99, @aaronleang, @crypto3d, @vincy, @kilathecla, @amarbir, @tadstrange, @joelai, @thinknzombie, @jamal.jeje, @ghostgtr, @technotroll, @michelleloh168, @davidke20, @superstarxtala, @diamondray, @affiedalfayed, @vaelriey, @afifa, @omitaylor, @brighttux, @arwine, @cindycam, @deisip67, @ariffashraff, @blinks, @howtostartablog, @hope-on-fire, @steem.curator, @chiboyzz, @fieza-hussin, @agrojaya, @hadebaryor, @onartbali, @ronyxoxo, @jasonwes77, @josephinengpy, @alimamasstory, @kweenbrand, @toby-l, @thebravesoul, @clik, @ardiy, @shaheerbari, @stahlberg, @orhem, @roseri, @turingtest, @matife, @superoo7-dev, @raphaelle, @fionasfavourites, @apteacher, @prfm, @meme-nexus, @gmaktub, @mashiliyanage, @smylie2005, @luissifontes62, @calebleejl, @blackelephant, @sintina, @bmotives, @adrianav, @markangeltrueman, @jinygoh, @cherryng, @girliepeters, @sayee, @yhchan0815, @beenathinkin, @arconite, @forgottendreams, @tngflx, @stevengoh, @cauac, @masterwu, @branlee87, @teammalaysia, @locikll, @jejangkit, @zipporah, @jacktan, @lasocia, @peaceandwar, @siren87, @positiveninja, @asherlee, @drawmeaship, @steemulator, @tighilt, @carmenl, @niouton, @sensation, @ejhaasteem, @skycae and @silviagoh.

I am also aware that some of you transferred SBDs to bid-bots to upvote the post too, thank you so very much!! I was targeting at only $35, thinking to cover her usual payouts when she was absent to write everyday like how she used to, but the overwhelming response went beyond that.

A Quick Update on Jansen

Photo by @iamjadeline, Jansen on the right.

Here's a quick update on Jansen, if in case you missed @iamjadeline's post. Since I have told the story of how much hard times he has gone through, I feel I have the need to tell you too on how well he progressed. He is totally healed from RSV and now his lungs are recuperating to be strengthened again. He is off the bipap breathing machines and breathing normal on his own. He has been eating and drinking well. Not forget to mention, he is active and back to imagining he is "Spiderman", playing with his imaginary "Black Panther", his elder brother. It is just wonderful to see him back to his usual jolly self. You may read more on his updates, if you follow @iamjadeline. As for his mom, my sister-in-law, she is also regaining her strength to be as active as before on Steemit.

Thank you again to all of you for reading and contributing. Kindness has no end, let's see how we can pay it forward again! Kindness energizes us, doesn't it?

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Source

Lists of References:

1. https://www.thecut.com/2016/06/kindness-is-human-nature.html
2. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_compassionate_instinct
3. https://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/random-acts-of-kindness-ze0z1405zjhar
4. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_compassionate_instinct
5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-it/201306/compassion-our-first-instinct
6. http://nautil.us/issue/37/currents/selfishness-is-learned

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