Summary: New research shows that everyday acts of kindness—small gestures such as using a warm tone, smiling, and actively listening—significantly improve teamwork and increase people’s willingness to cooperate. These simple behaviors foster a sense of social connectedness that links niceness to greater collaboration.
Across two studies, people who reported acting more kindly experienced higher satisfaction with group work and demonstrated stronger pro-social attitudes. Contrary to the common belief that niceness signals weakness, the findings indicate these behaviors boost both morale and task effectiveness.
Key Facts:
- Social glue: Everyday niceness strengthens social bonds, improving team cohesion and cooperation.
- Empirical evidence: Experimental and survey data both show that kindness increases satisfaction and cooperative attitudes.
- Practical impact: Minor acts—smiling, warm vocal tone, attentive listening—positively shape group dynamics and motivation.
Source: SWPS University
Close relationships, work teams, and local communities all depend on cooperation. According to a study in collaboration with researchers from SWPS University, everyday niceness helps build the social bonds and satisfaction that support cooperative behavior.
Much of our daily life involves interacting with others: in meetings, classrooms, shops, and public spaces. Each brief exchange offers an opportunity to be kind, neutral, or rude. Do these small choices matter? The research examined whether simple, everyday kindness can influence broader social outcomes.
Everyday kindness and daily functioning
Previous research has shown that seemingly minor acts of kindness offer many benefits to both the sender and the recipient. These behaviors are linked to improved well-being, greater satisfaction in relationships, and a stronger sense of meaning in life. People who consistently act kindly tend to feel more belonging and are less prone to loneliness or depressive symptoms, according to Olga Białobrzeska, PhD, a psychologist at the Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University in Warsaw.
In the present research, Olga Białobrzeska and Aleksandra Cisłak-Wójcik from SWPS University collaborated with Ilan Roziner from Tel Aviv University to investigate whether practicing everyday niceness builds social capital and, in turn, increases the likelihood of cooperative behavior by strengthening social connectedness.
Their study, titled “Niceness Fosters Cooperativeness Through Social Connectedness,” was published in the journal Social Psychology.
How niceness leads to cooperation
The researchers ran two complementary studies. Study 1 surveyed 463 adults aged 18–67. Participants rated their habitual small acts of kindness—statements included examples such as, “When paying in a store, I use a warm tone of voice or offer sincere thanks to make things pleasant for the person who works there.” They also reported feelings of social connectedness (for example, agreement or disagreement with statements like, “Even around people I know, I don’t feel that I really belong”) and their attitudes toward cooperation (for instance, “At work, I would usually consider the interests of both parties”).
Results showed that people who more frequently practiced everyday niceness reported a stronger sense of social connectedness, which in turn predicted greater willingness to cooperate.
To test causality, Study 2 was a field experiment with 164 first-year students organized into 52 task teams. Teams were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a niceness condition, where members were asked to express care for teammates by smiling, using a warm tone, actively listening, and creating a pleasant atmosphere; and a control condition, where members were instructed to focus on the task using a neutral or assertive tone, limiting smiles and jokes.
Students who were instructed to behave kindly reported higher satisfaction with teamwork and more positive attitudes toward cooperation than those in the control condition. The increased sense of social connectedness explained these effects, supporting the idea that niceness causally promotes cooperativeness by strengthening social bonds.
Immediate and lasting advantages
The research indicates that niceness delivers both direct, short-term benefits and indirect, longer-term advantages by fostering social connectedness. Small, easy-to-adopt behaviors—smiling, warm vocal tone, and active listening—can cascade into improved team motivation and collaborative outcomes.
These findings have practical implications for schools, workplaces, community organizations, and businesses seeking to enhance social capital and cooperation. Encouraging simple courteous behaviors can be an effective, low-cost strategy to strengthen teams and improve collective performance.
Although some people worry that being nice might be perceived as a sign of weakness or conflict with assertiveness, the study shows that niceness and effective performance are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, acting kindly can motivate people to pursue shared goals and work together more productively.
About this social neuroscience research news
Author: Marta Danowska-Kisiel
Source: SWPS University
Contact: Marta Danowska-Kisiel – SWPS University
Image credit: Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access. “Niceness Fosters Cooperativeness Through Social Connectedness” by Olga Białobrzeska et al., Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000568
Abstract
Niceness Fosters Cooperativeness Through Social Connectedness
Cooperation is essential for well-functioning close relationships, workplaces, local communities, and civil society. This research examined whether people’s cooperativeness is influenced by their everyday acts of niceness.
In a cross-sectional Study 1 with an online sample (N = 463), greater propensity for niceness correlated with higher cooperativeness, and this relationship was partially explained by increased social connectedness. In a field multilevel experiment with students working in teams (N = 164), acting kindly toward teammates causally increased teamwork satisfaction and positive attitudes toward cooperation through a stronger sense of connectedness.
These findings suggest that promoting and training everyday niceness can be an effective tool across many areas of life to enhance cooperation and build social capital.