What drives us to carry out acts of kindness for total strangers?
Update: 2025-11-13
Description
In honor of World Kindness Day — we’ve partnered with the Humankind team at USA TODAY for a deeper exploration on the topic of compassion. What drives us to carry out acts of kindness for total strangers and how can we actively cultivate this selflessness as a society? Abigail Marsh, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Georgetown University, joins The Excerpt to talk about empathy and altruism — why we help, even when it costs us.
Have feedback on the show? Please send us an email at podcasts@usatoday.com.
Episode transcript available here.
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