On the Thursday, November 13, 2025 episode of The Excerpt podcast: In honor of World Kindness Day — we’ve partnered with the Humankind team at USA TODAY for a deeper exploration on the topic of ...

I am so intrigued by people who are altruistic, people who are so selfless that they help generously without any expectations. Pessimistically, we assume that people like this are rare to come by.

Gill Hicks underwent a shift in purpose after a terrorist attack. Source: TEDxSydney/Flickr A sense of purpose means having a central, overarching goal (or goals) that provides a sense of motivation, ...

The stress hormone cortisol reduces altruistic behavior and alters activity in brain regions linked to social decision making - but only in people who are better at imagining others' mental states, ...

If you want to increase your happiness and well-being, spend your money, time or energy on someone else. Research consistently finds that acts of altruism, such as donating money, volunteering or ...