Thinking of a happy childhood – some potential unexpected benefits

Could simply recalling happy childhood memories make us more likely to act ethically and helpfully? Quite possibly yes, judging by a working paper* released last week. To quote Harvard Working Knowledge’s executive summary:

• Through four experiments, the researchers show that triggering childhood memories induces feelings of moral purity in adults, which leads them to behave pro-socially—that is, to do kind, ethical things that benefit others.
• Recalling childhood memories also can lead adults to judge (and punish) unethical behavior more harshly than they would have otherwise.

What were these “kind, ethical things”? Per the abstract:

In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall memories from their childhood were more likely to help the experimenter with a supplementary task than were participants in a control condition, and this effect was mediated by self-reported feelings of moral purity. In Experiment 2, the same manipulation increased the amount of money participants donated to a good cause, and self-reported feelings of moral purity mediated this relationship. In Experiment 3, participants who recalled childhood memories judged the ethically-questionable behavior of others more harshly, suggesting that childhood memories lead to altruistic punishment. Finally, in Experiment 4, compared to a control condition, both positively-valenced and negatively-valenced childhood memories led to higher empathic concern for a person in need, which, in turn increased intentions to help.”

Almost as interesting was some of the earlier research cited by the study:

“Similarly, Aarts and Dijksterhuis (2003) showed that people automatically lowered their voice when they were shown a picture of a library, indicating that merely seeing the photo activated situational norms that one should not speak loudly in a library.”

You can check out the full text of the working paper here. I’m usually interested by research as to what makes us think and act the way we do (perhaps this is why behavioural finance fascinates me?), and this was no exception.

* “Memory Lane and Morality: How Childhood Memories Promote Prosocial Behavior”, by Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, and Sreedhari D. Desai of Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.