Radical Kindness

In this episode of Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam interviews psychologist and neuroscientist Abigail Marsh about the science of altruism. Marsh shares a personal story of being rescued by a stranger after a car accident, which sparked her interest in studying extreme altruists, particularly altruistic kidney donors. The discussion explores the characteristics of these individuals, including their heightened sensitivity to fear in others, reduced social discounting, humility, and spontaneous decision-making. Marsh argues that humans are naturally altruistic, as evidenced by alloparental care, and that altruism can be cultivated by expanding one's circle of caring, confronting fears, and starting with small acts of kindness. The episode also touches on the role of fear in hindering altruistic behavior and the importance of recognizing that courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it.