A random act of kindness is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. [1] The phrase "random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" was written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, California in 1982. It was based on the phrase "random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty". [2] Herbert's book Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty was published in February 1993 speaking about true stories of acts of kindness.
The phrase is commonly expressed as the suggestion to "Practice random acts of kindness." There are groups around the world who are sharing acts of spontaneous kindness.
Altruism is the principle and practice of concern for the well-being and/or happiness of other humans or animals above oneself. While objects of altruistic concern vary, it is an important moral value in many cultures and religions. It may be considered a synonym of selflessness, the opposite of selfishness.
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Also called Darwinian theory, it originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance after Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, including concepts which predated Darwin's theories. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term Darwinism in April 1860.
In Christian theology, charity is considered one of the seven virtues and was understood by Thomas Aquinas as "the friendship of man for God", which "unites us to God". He holds it as "the most excellent of the virtues". Aquinas further holds that "the habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to the love of our neighbor".
Kindness is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, rendering assistance, or concern for others, without expecting praise or reward in return. It is a subject of interest in philosophy, religion, and psychology.
Daniel Frederick Wallace is a British filmmaker, comedian, writer, actor, and presenter of radio and television. His notable works include the books Join Me and Yes Man, narrating Thomas Was Alone and as Shaun Hastings for the Assassin's Creed game series, and fronting TV series How to Start Your Own Country.
Group selection is a proposed mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group, instead of at the level of the individual or gene.
Bennett Alfred Cerf was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his weekly television appearances for over 17 years on the panel game show What's My Line?
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biological adaptation distinct from, yet interconnected with, natural selection. The book discusses many related issues, including evolutionary psychology, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary musicology, differences between human races, differences between sexes, the dominant role of women in mate choice, and the relevance of the evolutionary theory to society.
José Rivera is a playwright and the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award for the movie, The Motorcycle Diaries.
The dictator game is a popular experimental instrument in social psychology and economics, a derivative of the ultimatum game. The term "game" is a misnomer because it captures a decision by a single player: to send money to another or not. Thus, the dictator has the most power and holds the preferred position in this “game.” Although the “dictator” has the most power and presents a take it or leave it offer, the game has mixed results based on different behavioral attributes. The results – where most "dictators" choose to send money – evidence the role of fairness and norms in economic behavior, and undermine the assumption of narrow self-interest when given the opportunity to maximise one's own profits.
The gene-centered view of evolution, gene's eye view, gene selection theory, or selfish gene theory holds that adaptive evolution occurs through the differential survival of competing genes, increasing the allele frequency of those alleles whose phenotypic trait effects successfully promote their own propagation. The proponents of this viewpoint argue that, since heritable information is passed from generation to generation almost exclusively by DNA, natural selection and evolution are best considered from the perspective of genes.
Dmitri "Misha" Collins is an American actor best known for his role as the angel Castiel on the CW television series Supernatural (2008–2020).
Barbara Ann Kipfer is a lexicographer, linguist, ontologist, and part-time archaeologist. She has written more than 80 books and calendars, including 14,000 Things to be Happy About (Workman), which has more than 1.25 million copies in print. The 25th anniversary edition of the book was published in 2014. She is the editor of Roget's International Thesaurus 5th-8th editions.
Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying the kindness to others rather than paying it back to the original benefactor. It is also called serial reciprocity.
Anne Herbert (1950-2015) was an American journalist and author. She was raised in Ohio and wrote mostly in California.
The Kindness Offensive (TKO) is a group based in London known for orchestrating large-scale random acts of kindness, involving the distribution of industrial quantities of goods to unsuspecting members of the public and charities. The group's stated purpose is to "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty", a phrase first coined by Anne Herbert.
Feed The Deed, also known as #FeedtheDeed, is a social media pay-it-forward initiative that started in February 2014. Participants film themselves performing a creative random act of kindness, then nominate friends and family to continue on the chain. The participant usually uploads a video or pictures of the kind act to Facebook, then will tag four or five friends in the post. The nominated person is generally told to complete the task within 24 hours.
Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference is a 2015 book by William MacAskill that serves as a primer on the effective altruism movement that seeks to do the most good. It is published by Random House and was released on July 28, 2015.
A wall of kindness is a charity work phenomenon and a kind of welfare, usually done by attaching cloth hangers from outside of houses; those encourage people to donate miscellaneous useful things such as winter clothing. It was introduced by an anonymous Iranian, and the practice quickly spread throughout the country. The motto of the movement are two sentences that appear on the walls: "Leave what you don't need" and "Take what you do".
Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion is a 2016 book written by psychologist Paul Bloom. The book draws on the distinctions between empathy, compassion, and moral decision making. Bloom argues that empathy is not the solution to problems that divide people and is a poor guide for decision making. However, he is not completely against empathy; he believes that empathy can motivate kindness to make the world a better place.