You Only Have to Be a Little More Generous to Be Happier, Study Says

The key to feeling happy may be as simple as being a little generous – or even vowing to be moreso, according to new research.

Researchers studied the communication between brain areas and found that those concerned about their fellow humans are happier compared to those who tend to care more about themselves. Helping others gives people a "warm glow." University of Zurich neuroeconomists worked with international researchers for the study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

Here's how the experiment worked: 50 participants were told they would receive a sum of money within the next few weeks, which they should spend. Researchers assigned them to two groups – half promised they would spend the money on someone they knew, while the other half said they would spend it on themselves.

The participants then started making decisions regarding generous behavior – specifically whether to give someone close to them money. For the generous group – the experimental one – the person they chose was different than the one they would later give money to. The size and cost of the gift varied during these decisions (i.e. giving someone five francs while costing themselves two francs), and always led to participants having to make some kind of personal sacrifice. .

Throughout the decision-making process, researchers looked at participants' brain activity across three areas including the temporoparietal junction (where the brain processes generosity), the ventral striatum (happiness) and the orbitofrontal cortex (the decision-making process).

In the case of the experimental group, they were prepared to spend higher costs to be kind to another person. Those who were more generous in the study were happier post-study than those who acted in a more selfish manner. That's not to say quantity of generosity correlated to quality. "You don't need to become a self-sacrificing martyr to feel happier. Just being a little more generous will suffice," study author Philippe Tobler of the University of Zurich said in a statement.

Though the research seems encouraging, questions remain as to what happens next.

"There are still some open questions, such as: Can communication between these brain regions be trained and strengthened?" study author Soyoung Park of the University of Lübeck in Germany said in a statement. "If so, how? And, does the effect last when it is used deliberately, that is, if a person only behaves generously in order to feel happier?"