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As a species, homo sapiens have a bad reputation. War, environmental pillage, weapons of mass destruction – if the human race was applying for the job as planetary custodian, we wouldn’t even make it through to the interview stage.
But maybe we are not as bad as we think. According to the author and psychologist Steven Pinker, human society has become kinder over the course of recorded history, perhaps not in a linear fashion, but in absolute terms. He argues in The Better Angels of Our Nature that over the long arc of history, violence – including murder, cruelty and war deaths – have declined.
Professor Abigail Marsh claims that, at least in the laboratory, most people will be generous, most of the time. The same, she argues, may be true in the real world. For example, according to the World Giving Index report, two-thirds of the world’s population donated money in 2024.
Marsh and fellow researchers have found that at the sight of something mildly scary, such as a snake, people feel an urge to flee. But when an average person sees a fearful expression on another person’s face, their response is the opposite. In less than a second, the amygdala sends a message to approach, despite the potential danger. Humans, Marsh argues, are hard-wired to care for and protect each other.
Exceptionally altruistic people, such as people who voluntarily donate kidneys to strangers, tend to have a stronger than average amygdala response to other people’s fear. Despite their greater sensitivity to fear, altruists are also more inclined to act. In other words, altruists are brave.
When a CNN reporter recently asked Ahmed al-Ahmed why he risked his life to tackle one of the Bondi Beach shooters, he responded, “I did it as a human being.” When asked why he didn’t pull the trigger on the shooter, Ahmed later explained that he chose restraint out of “humility”, while he was also trying to stop him from killing more innocent people.
People all over the world were inspired by Ahmed’s actions. As humans, we get goose bumps, we feel our hearts warm, our eyes water when we see an ordinary person act in such an extraordinary way to help other people. Anthropologist Alan Fiske might identify this as the emotion of kama muta, a Sanskrit term translated as “moved by love”.
Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor and the scientific adviser to the Pixar movie Inside Out, would call it an experience of awe in the face of “moral beauty”. In a survey of people from more than 20 countries, he and fellow researcher Dr Yang Bai found that witnessing humans acting with courage, kindness or overcoming the odds were among the most common triggers for experiences of awe, a sense of “being in the presence of something vast”.
Can we as a species become more altruistic? Marsh notes that altruism is a self-reinforcing action, triggering pleasure responses that can motivate repeated actions. But she found that, just like riding a bicycle, the most important ingredient for becoming kinder is practice. While world religions all tend to exhort followers to be generous, she notes the most robust evidence for practices that demonstrably increase empathy and altruism is in the Buddhist tradition.
“Loving-kindness” meditations have been shown to train a person’s neural empathy pathways. In such a practice, you might focus on wishing wellbeing and safety to yourself, then someone you love, then a neutral person, then someone you really don’t like, and ultimately for all beings. Over time, your brain may change: the grey and white matter and networks that promote wellbeing become stronger, leading to more prosocial behaviour, self-compassion and greater cognitive and affective empathy.
Of course, you don’t have to be Buddhist to be kind. The Canadian program Roots of Empathy has been shown to reduce aggression and increase the compassionate behaviours of children. Schoolchildren “adopt” a local baby for the year. The parent and the baby come to the school, and students are encouraged to try to see the world from the baby’s point of view. They are trained to care about the baby, perhaps writing poems or recording lullabies for the baby.
Humility allows a person to understand theirs and other people’s lives as of equal value. In a community founded on an ethics of care, I can begin to see my “self” as connected, as part of a larger whole. I don’t think I could have been a hero like Ahmed. I’m not an extraordinary altruist; I’m brave in small ways, rarely in big ones. But if our species can build on its birthright – altruism, connection, love and care – then maybe we won’t need to be.
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Jackie Bailey is an award-winning author whose nonfiction book about spirituality, ‘The Outrageous Good Fortune of Living’ (HarperCollins), will be released in 2026. Jackie works as a funeral celebrant and pastoral care practitioner, supporting people to navigate death and dying
