Humble People More Likely to Help the Needy

Humble people are more likely to offer help to someone in need than arrogant people, according to psychologists from the University of Maine, US.

Time pressure, the presence of bystanders, and temporary feelings of empathy or distress influence a person's decision to offer help. During the research scientists noted that individuals who scored highly for humility in personality assessment tests offered to give more of their time to help an injured student than those with lower scores.

Dr. Wade Rowatt, from Baylor University in Texas, said, "Our discovery here is that the understudied trait of humility predicts helpfulness. Important next steps will be to figure out whether humility can be cultivated and if humility is beneficial in other contexts, such as scientific and medical advancements or leadership development."

The findings have been published in the journal Positive Psychology.

Source: Medindia