| Title |
A neural link between generosity and happiness
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature Communications, July 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1038/ncomms15964 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Soyoung Q. Park, Thorsten Kahnt, Azade Dogan, Sabrina Strang, Ernst Fehr, Philippe N. Tobler |
| Abstract |
Generous behaviour is known to increase happiness, which could thereby motivate generosity. In this study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging and a public pledge for future generosity to investigate the brain mechanisms that link generous behaviour with increases in happiness. Participants promised to spend money over the next 4 weeks either on others (experimental group) or on themselves (control group). Here, we report that, compared to controls, participants in the experimental group make more generous choices in an independent decision-making task and show stronger increases in self-reported happiness. Generous decisions engage the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) in the experimental more than in the control group and differentially modulate the connectivity between TPJ and ventral striatum. Importantly, striatal activity during generous decisions is directly related to changes in happiness. These results demonstrate that top-down control of striatal activity plays a fundamental role in linking commitment-induced generosity with happiness. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 489 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 85 | 17% |
| United Kingdom | 36 | 7% |
| Spain | 21 | 4% |
| Mexico | 13 | 3% |
| France | 13 | 3% |
| Germany | 11 | 2% |
| Australia | 10 | 2% |
| Brazil | 8 | 2% |
| Colombia | 8 | 2% |
| Other | 81 | 17% |
| Unknown | 203 | 42% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 380 | 78% |
| Scientists | 64 | 13% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 31 | 6% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 14 | 3% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 380 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 380 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 70 | 18% |
| Student > Master | 55 | 14% |
| Researcher | 38 | 10% |
| Student > Bachelor | 34 | 9% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 24 | 6% |
| Other | 58 | 15% |
| Unknown | 101 | 27% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 96 | 25% |
| Neuroscience | 47 | 12% |
| Social Sciences | 16 | 4% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 15 | 4% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 14 | 4% |
| Other | 74 | 19% |
| Unknown | 118 | 31% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2002. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 March 2024.
All research outputs
#4,730
of 25,920,652 outputs
Outputs from Nature Communications
#90
of 59,091 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#56
of 329,444 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Communications
#2
of 922 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,920,652 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 59,091 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 55.5. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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