Are People Less Generous When They’re Bored? The Results Are In

SoulPancake created a clever test to determine whether boredom makes people feel less giving. They gave one group of people a virtual-reality trip across the earth, and another group a VR trip to…nowhere. The people in the second group just stood in an empty gray room. After their experiences, the first group expressed more of a desire to give to others than the second, gray-room group. Seeing our large, beautiful earth reminded the first group that we’re just small specks on a rock in space. This perspective cultivated a sense of awe, which made them feel connected to our world and to others. They left the experiment wanting to spend more than half of their time giving to others!