More than 700 people took part in a study that聽charted the effects of being nice to others, in small doses, over the course of a week. Researchers asked participants to act compassionately towards someone for 5 to 15 minutes a day, by actively helping or interacting with them in a supportive and considerate manner. Six months later, participants reported increased happiness and self-esteem.

鈥淭he concept of compassion and kindness resonates with so many religious traditions, yet it has received little empirical evidence until recently,鈥� says lead author聽Myriam Mongrain (right),聽professor of psychology in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 amazing is that the time investment required for these changes to occur is so small. We鈥檙e talking about mere minutes a day,鈥� she says.

Participants鈥� levels of depression, happiness and self-esteem were assessed at the study鈥檚 onset, and at four subsequent points over the following six months; those in the compassionate condition reported significantly greater increases in self-esteem and happiness at six months compared to those in the control group.

So why does doing good for others make us feel good about ourselves?

鈥淭he simplest answer is that doing noble, charitable acts makes us feel better about ourselves. We reaffirm that we are 鈥榞ood鈥�, which is a highly valued trait in our society. It is also possible that being kind to others may help us be kind to ourselves,鈥� Mongrain says. She notes that previous studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between compassionate behaviours and charitable self-evaluations.

鈥淐ompassion cuts both ways,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you make a conscious decision to not be so hard on others, it becomes easier to not be so hard on yourself. Furthermore, providing support to others often means that we will get support back. That is why caring for and helping others may be the best possible thing we can do for ourselves. On a less selfish level, there is something intrinsically satisfying about helping others and witnessing their gratitude,鈥� says Mongrain.

Not surprisingly, research has also shown that compassionate activities increase the level of meaning in one鈥檚 life, which in turn elevates levels of happiness.

Researchers expected that those with needy personalities would experience greater reductions in depressive symptoms and greater increases in happiness and self-esteem as a result of being kind to others.

鈥淲e hypothesized this would occur as a result of the reassurance [needy personalities] might extract from positive exchanges with others,鈥� Mongrain says. 鈥淲e did see some reduction in depressive symptoms for anxiously attached individuals, but further research is needed to see if there is any long-term benefit.鈥�

The study, 鈥淧ractising Compassion Increases Happiness and Self-Esteem鈥�, is forthcoming in the spring issue of the . It is co-authored by 91亚色 researchers Jacqueline Chin and Leah Shapira.

The research was funded by the .

You can follow the project online at , on Twitter and on Facebook.

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鈥淚n order to have a successful relationship, you really need to be able to give of yourself 鈥� to go outside your own needs, wants and viewpoints,鈥� says David Reid, a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology in 91亚色's聽Faculty of Health.

Right: A Victorian Valentine's Day card. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

鈥淚t sounds obvious, but I see so many clients who cannot put themselves in their partner鈥檚 shoes. Either they aren鈥檛 used to thinking in terms of the point of view of their spouse, or they simple refuse to,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his doesn鈥檛 mean you cave in to everything your partner wants. Rather, you learn to be more intuitive and emotionally sensitive towards your spouse. When this is done reciprocally it can create a very positive symbiotic shift in a relationship,鈥� he says.

Reid has studied and documented the dynamics between couples for more than 15 years. He developed a new type of therapy that helps partners create a greater identity for themselves within their relationship, so much so that they begin to talk as if the relationship is part of their individual identities.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e changing the relationship in ways that draw the partners into feeling and thinking of themselves as part of the relationship,鈥� says Reid. 鈥淎t its best, a relationship can actually allow you to express your identity and get to know yourself in ways you never thought possible,鈥� he says.

His most recent research shows that as a result of participating in couples鈥� therapy, partners become significantly better at inferring what the other is thinking and feeling 鈥� the cornerstone of a healthy relationship.

With couples鈥� consent, Reid videotaped therapy sessions and then painstakingly studied how each set of partners related to one another. 聽He designed techniques that accommodate the uniqueness of each partner and their relationship, including their respective personalities and added factors such as culture, family dynamics, and other challenges like medical problems.

Reid revisited the couples two years later to document how their relationships had progressed, using an unbiased interviewer. He repeatedly found that couples鈥� satisfaction was connected to how well they had learned to identify with their relationship as a result of the therapeutic intervention.

鈥淚t鈥檚 as if they learn to be their own therapists,鈥� Reid says. 鈥淲hen you improve the relationship in ways that accommodate the idiosyncrasies of each partner, often the original issues that you argued about either dissolve, or are really quite easy for the couple to solve themselves,鈥� he says.

Part of his therapeutic process involved interviewing a partner who agreed to pretend to be their spouse, attempting to answer questions from their partner鈥檚 viewpoint. Their spouse sat out of sight, and was later interviewed in the same manner.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a big impact witnessing one鈥檚 partner knowing you so well,鈥� Reid says. 鈥淚n doing this exercise, a husband may find that he knows more about his wife than he鈥檚 aware of, and vice versa.鈥�

Reid offers the following tips for couples to strengthen their relationship:

• Put your own issues aside and respectfully engage the point of view of your spouse. If you can鈥檛 solve the problem, maybe you鈥檙e part of it.
• Pay attention to your intuitions. Be honest with yourself. Do you feel something isn鈥檛 right? There鈥檚 a bias in our world to think you can solve every problem with reason.
• Learn to listen honestly 鈥� not to win a point. Communication is based on feedback. Listen to understand your partner鈥檚 meaning, rather than just the words they are using.
• Try to accept each other. That includes accepting yourself; no one is perfect. Acceptance can go a long way towards resolving differences.
• When you鈥檙e having a major disagreement, remember to also speak for the relationship and not just yourself. In those moments of discord think of what would be best for the relationship. Research has found that partners in a well-functioning relationship have learned to make the relationship the bigger priority.
• Quit naysaying. Phrases like 鈥淚 can鈥檛,鈥� 鈥渢hat won鈥檛 work,鈥� 鈥渨e can鈥檛 afford it,鈥� can be replaced with formative thinking, such as, 鈥淗ow can we make this work,鈥� 鈥淚s there another way we can do this.鈥�
• Remember that the only person you can change is yourself. If your partner exhibits behaviour that is upsetting to you, half the battle can be to change yourself in such a way that it leads the other person to evolve, as well.
• The secret to longevity is good maintenance. Do those little things to keep the relationship humming along; nurturing, finding value in the relationship, and not taking it for granted. Relationships are not 鈥渢hings.鈥� They are a dynamic ongoing process for growth, well-being and good health.

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Perfectionism is sometimes viewed as a positive personality trait to be rewarded or reinforced, but Dalhousie University psychology professor Simon Sherry believes it is mostly a self-defeating behaviour, wrote :

In professors, the effect can be particularly pernicious: in a new study, Sherry and colleagues found that perfectionism leads to lower research productivity. The findings suggest that professors who display a higher level of perfectionism are less likely to produce publications, garner citations or publish their research in high-impact journals.

鈥淲e found that perfectionism trips up professors on the way to research productivity. The more perfectionistic the professor, the less productive they are,鈥� said Dr. Sherry. This could 鈥渟eriously and adversely impact鈥� their career development. The study was published in the .

. . .

To investigate the issue, he and colleagues of 91亚色鈥檚 and Paul Hewitt of the University of British Columbia studied the link between perfectionism and research productivity among psychology professors working at universities in the US and Canada. They limited it to their own profession to simplify the logistics and restricted it to universities with graduate programs in psychology.

They contacted 10,000 professors, of whom 1,258 responded using an online survey. The researchers found a 鈥渞obust correlation鈥� between increased perfectionism and decreased research productivity in the respondents. A higher level of perfectionism was associated with a lower number of total publications and a lower number of first-authored publications. It was also associated with a lower number of citations and a track record of publishing in journals with a lower impact rating.

. . .

If professors suspect they鈥檙e perfectionists, Dr. Sherry counsels that they seek professional help. The best treatment options appear to be interpersonal or cognitive behavioural therapy, he added.

Ironically, 鈥減erfectionists are often very reluctant to seek help because they see it as tantamount to being imperfect,鈥� he said. As well, perfectionism itself can be a barrier to effective treatment; afflicted individuals might subconsciously sabotage their course of treatment because of unrealistic expectations.

Perfectionist profs have another reason to worry: research has linked perfectionism with depression, suicide and various forms of eating disorders such as bulimia, binge eating and聽anorexia.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Individuals who wrote themselves a compassionate or optimistic letter every day for a week were less depressed up to three months later and reported an overall increase in happiness after six months.

More than 200 people logged onto a website for seven consecutive nights to complete the exercise, then filled out questionnaires measuring their progress at intervals of one, three and six months. Participants were assigned one of three conditions: self-compassion, optimism or a neutral control condition.

鈥淚nterestingly, we noted significant improvements in mood for all participants, except those who exhibited extreme neediness,鈥� says study co-author (right), a psychology professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health.

In the self-compassion exercise, participants were directed to address an upsetting event, attempting to comfort themselves as they would a friend in a similar situation.

鈥淭he idea was to try and be good to yourself, to realize your distress makes sense and provide the words you would need to hear to feel nurtured and soothed,鈥� Mongrain says. The exercise was adapted by Leah Shapira, the study鈥檚 lead author and a graduate student in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Psychology.

Those assigned an optimistic task were instructed to visualize a future in which current issues were resolved and give themselves advice on paper on how to get there. In the control condition, participants wrote freely about an early memory.

Researchers then looked at the effect of compassion versus optimism for individuals prone to depression. Numerous studies, including Mongrain鈥檚 own, have established that dependent and self-critical personality types are at high risk for depression. Self critics feel guilty for not living up to the demanding standards they set for themselves, generating feelings of worthlessness. Dependent personalities are characterized by fear of abandonment and the dissolution of interpersonal relationships.

鈥淚mmature dependents experience intense fear of rejection and a sense of helplessness,鈥� Mongrain says. 鈥淢ature dependents, on the other hand, thrive on connectedness; they are people pleasers who experience anxiety but can have positive and trusting interactions with others.鈥�

Researchers found that self critics experienced the greatest benefits from optimism exercises, whereas those with more connected personalities profited most from self-compassion. 鈥淐onnected individuals are able to nurture others, meaning that this compassion can theoretically be extended to the self,鈥� Mongrain says.

The study, 鈥淭he Benefits of Self-Compassion and Optimism Exercises for Individuals Vulnerable to Depression鈥�, was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology. Those with access can view the study through .

This study was funded by a grant from the .

Mongrain's study was covered by in an article that included fictional satirical letters to themselves by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:

Anyone can write a love note to himself to help create lasting happiness. The only caveat is that it doesn't work as well if you're too self-critical, needy and oversensitive to potential abandonment. That's the finding of a research paper out of 91亚色, published recently in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

"It was an effort to create a tool for when things don't go as well as you wanted," says Myriam Mongrain, professor of psychology in 91亚色's Faculty of Hedicine, who worked as project leader on the study along with lead author and 91亚色 graduate student Leah Shapira (MA '09).

Mongrain acknowledges that in Western society such Buddhist-style loving kindness directed toward the self is not encouraged or even acceptable. "Many believe that you won't get anywhere by being kind to yourself; letting yourself off the hook is a recipe for failure or disaster," she says. "They've begun to believe that they need to be tough on themselves to reach their high standards.... For them, they might think it meant they were lazy or self-indulgent. But it offers another world view, another prescription in how to relate to oneself. ... The public needs to know that this will not interfere with their work ethic."

The approach might also lead to greater harmony among people, she adds. "If you interpret events as signs that you're incompetent, that you're a failure, that you're inadequate, all of those judgments toward yourself will lead to an unhealthy approach 鈥� overcompensating for example...and you become angry as a way to defend yourself, to retaliate."

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, a psychology PhD candidate in the Faculty of Health at 91亚色's Centre for Infancy Studies, describe her research, which was conducted under the direction of Professor Maria Legerstee and published in the Journal Infancy. The clip runs approximately 10 minutes.

Edited by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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A study by 91亚色 researchers reveals that infants as young as six months old know when we鈥檙e 鈥減laying鈥� them 鈥� and they don鈥檛 like it.

Researchers in 91亚色鈥檚 examined six- and nine-month-old babies鈥� reactions to a game in which an experimenter was either unable or unwilling to share a toy. Babies detected and calmly accepted when an experimenter was unable to share for reasons beyond her control, but averted their gazes and became agitated when it was clear she simply wouldn鈥檛 share.

鈥淏abies can tell if you鈥檙e teasing or being manipulative, and they let you know it,鈥� says study lead author Heidi Marsh, a PhD student who worked under the direction of psychology Professor , head of the Centre for Infancy Studies in 91亚色鈥檚 .

鈥淭hese results are exciting as it鈥檚 the first demonstration that used infants鈥� social behaviour to successfully show that at six months they comprehend the goals of our actions. Previously, there was only evidence based on visual habituation (observing the pattern of infants鈥� gazes towards stimuli) which is prone to interpretative issues, and even those results were very mixed,鈥� Marsh says.

Other studies have concluded that this ability doesn鈥檛 develop until nine months of age. However, that research used measures which Marsh proposes are unsuited to younger infants.

鈥淎 six-month-old as compared to a nine-month-old has different ways of expressing what they know,鈥� says Marsh. 鈥淭he innovative aspect of this research is that we used measures that are consistent with a six-month-old鈥檚 everyday behaviour in order to understand what they comprehend. We recorded their social responses, such as sadness, gaze aversions, smiles and vocalizations, in addition to more physical responses such as reaching and banging,鈥� she says.

The study looked at 40 infants, evenly divided between genders. Infants sat in their mothers鈥� laps at a table, with the experimenter seated across from them. In half the test trials, the toy was not passed to the infant because the experimenter was unwilling to share it, and in the others, it was not passed because the experimenter was trying, but unable, to pass it.

Infants were administered three tasks: block, mock and play. Each task differed with respect to the toy that was shared and the nature of the sharing game, but in all tasks there was a corresponding unwilling and unable condition. For instance, in the mock task, a rattle was held out toward the infant and then pulled back teasingly (unwilling condition), and a ball was "accidentally" dropped and rolled back to the experimenter (unable condition).

The visible movements of both the experimenter and the toy were matched across conditions, as was the outcome that the toy was not shared. This meant that the main difference between conditions was the experimenter鈥檚 intent.

鈥淲e also used the experimenter鈥檚 facial expressions to convey unwillingness or inability, as they鈥檙e important cues for babies to understand others鈥� goals,鈥� says Marsh.

Infants at both ages averted their gazes during unwilling trials. They also reached more in the unable conditions, suggesting they understood there was a problem and were trying to elicit the adult鈥檚 assistance. The nine-month-olds banged their arms in the unwilling conditions, whereas the six-month-olds showed more negative affect, such as frowns, in those trials, and positive affective behaviours in unable conditions.

鈥淥ur finding that affective measures are stronger for younger infants may be related to their level of independence,鈥� Marsh says. 鈥淎s infants become more independent, they decrease affective behaviour such as crying, and increase physical actions such as actively resisting. These distinctions point to the importance of studying infants鈥� social and cognitive abilities not only over time, but also in paradigms that capture the spectrum of their social behaviours.鈥�

The study, 鈥溾��, is co-authored by Legerstee, Jennifer Stavropoulos and Tom Nienhuis. It was published online in in January 2010.

This research was supported by grants from the .

By Melissa Hughes, Media Relations Officer.

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