Thursday, October 01, 2009

The Economics & Physiology of "Joy of Giving"

Question 1: How do you "monitize" this act of "Giving"???.... What is the economics of "Giving"?

Ramaa wrote a beautiful piece about "The Joy of Giving - What Price, Happiness?"... (which thankfully, was rescued out of Facebook and reproduced on his blog by Ninja...)

Lots of events are happening in XLRI as we celebrate the "Joy of Giving Week" & the "Jamshedpur JoyFest"... e.g.





...and Ramaa's note was about one of them - the visit to the old-age home "Nirmal Hrudayalay"... her note ended with an observation:
---
"I walked out of the gate, smiling a little, wondering about the price of happiness.

  • To Mala: her bangles and the promise of a big stool to sit on.
  • To the boy: strumming a guitar.
  • To Poorni: talking to me in Tamizh.
  • To the children there: playing throw ball.

  • To Nirmal Hriday: Two hours of our time.

    I had all of these things they each wanted, and yet I had never been so happy. Giving it to them created the happiness, the priceless joy- of caring, of sharing and giving."

    ---

    Question 2: What is the "physiology" of "Giving"?... Why do people indulge in "unselfish acts"... and self-lessly "give" - money, time, service, resources - in this age of an oxymoron - the "enlightened self-interest"?

    So, I also came across an interesting study by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland - reported by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences... and converted into an article on "Altruism" by The Economist". To quote... because we "feel good" - the study reports....because "giving"/ altruism...

    "...also engages the part of the brain that plays a role in the bonding behaviour between mother and child, and in romantic love. This involves oxytocin, a hormone that increases trust and co-operation"
    ---------

    Ah! Good to know that !!... Good to know that the science/econmics has found out - what any decent human being would know in his/her heart!!

  • 4 comments:

    ~S~ said...

    How I wish we had done the 'serving those who served us' in our time there. The sight of the little girls in our classes was beautiful.

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