Axios: How goodness spreads

Posted on October 8, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

How goodness spreads
 
Illustration of a crowd of people with certain highlighted people radiating kindness in the form of color shifts. 
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
A wealth of psychology and behavioral research lets us track the life cycle of a good deed.

Why it matters: An act of kindness can benefit the person who does it, the person who receives it, and even people who witness it or hear about it.

How it works:

🙋 The doer: Volunteering and performing other acts of kindness — from donating blood to smiling at a stranger on the street — benefits the doer, according to an American Psychological Association review of several research papers. The perks include feeling happier and less lonely, anxious and depressed.

The receiver: As we’ve reported, we tend to underestimate how much a simple gesture, like holding a door, means to the person on the receiving end. Plus, kindness can set off a chain reaction. People who benefit from a good deed are likelier to direct kindness to strangers themselves, Axios’ Ashley May reports

👀 The witness: Just watching someone do something nice helps, in a phenomenon researchers call “moral elevation.” The boost people get from witnessing kindness also makes them likelier to spread it.

📰 Even reading about good deeds has an effect: In a 2023 study published in the journal PLOS ONE, people who read news stories about good deeds after reading negative news stories felt uplifted and more inclined to believe in the goodness of others.

What’s next: We want to spread the goodness by reviving one of our favorite Finish Line series — sharing the good deeds you encounter with fellow readers.

Tell us about a random act of kindness you received or witnessed — from a friend, a family member, a neighbor or a total stranger — in 2-3 sentences. Send it to finishline@axios.com, along with your name and hometown, and we’ll feature the stories in future editions.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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