Toolkit Library/

Why some people are more altruistic than others

Many believe that humans are fundamentally selfish, driven by self-interest. Yet as social psychologist Abigail Marsh, professor at Georgetown University, discusses in this TED Talk, research shows that human nature is just as inclined toward acts of caring and compassion. Through her research on “extreme altruists,” she concludes that humility is a core driver of altruism and can be developed in all of us.

   Video

   12 minutes

   By: Abigail Marsh, TED

   K-12 educators | Lifelong learners


Making connections:

Principled Innovation asks us to work with others and recognize the limits of our own knowledge so that we can better understand and tackle the complex issues our communities face.

More on this topic:

An upward spiral between gratitude and humility

  Article

  15 minutes

  By: Elliott Kruse et al.

Intellectual humility

  Article

  10 minutes

  By: Character Lab

To unite the country, we need honesty and courage

  Article

  10 minutes

  By: Boston Globe, Robert P. George and Cornel West

Moral teachers, moral students

  Article

  10 minutes

  By: ASCD, Richard Weissbourd

Heroes

  Video

  14 minutes

  By: Phil Zimbardo, TEDx

Access our collection of +200 learning materials

PI toolkit library