How helping others can benefit us all

Helping out your neighbors, a lonely acquaintance or a family of strangers in need: Small-scale aid initiatives are growing. Why is that, and how can it benefit us all? Journalist Renate van der Zee investigates this trend. 

People’s interest in getting involved in a small-scale aid initiative appears to be growing. These vary from volunteering to help a family member, helping your neigbors or even sharing-economy initiatives like lending someone tools without expecting anything in return, or pruning a hedge in exchange for a homemade apple pie. I think this new tendency to be helpful was given a boost as a result of the financial crisis in 2008. It made a lot of people realize that even though our society is very individualistisc, this doesn’t give us a reason not to help others when they need it, particularly when things aren’t going so well. The crisis reminded us how important it is not only to be focused on earning money and working on our careers, but also to invest in making good connections in our neighborhoods and developing lasting friendships.

“It’s actually very possible that the financial crisis inspired people to be more helpful,” says American psychologist and researcher Daryl van Tongeren. “In uncertain times, people have a greater need to connect with other people, and helping each other is a really nice way to feel that connection.” Among the issues that Van Tongeren has researched, one had been the ways in which people give their lives more meaning.