Generous Minds: Giving and the Social Brain

Prosociality—attitudes and behaviors that benefit others—is a cornerstone of healthy communities and societies. It encompasses everything from small everyday gestures, like helping a stranger, to larger acts such as donating to charity and volunteering. But do individuals with greater financial resources exhibit higher or lower levels of prosociality? Until now, evidence has been inconclusive. Our new global study provides clarity. By analyzing data from 80,000 people across 76 countries—representing over 90% of the world’s population—we examined six distinct forms of prosociality. The findings offer valuable insights into how we can foster greater prosocial behavior for the benefit of society as a whole.

Establishing and maintaining meaningful social relationships is crucial for our physical and mental health. This requires us to interact effectively with others and conduct ourselves appropriately in social situations. This talk will discuss how the brain supports effective interpersonal behaviour; it will present new techniques that we have developed for measuring the brain during real-world social interactions, and how these techniques are helping us to understand how the brain regulates and co-ordinates our behaviour in interpersonal contexts.