Contributions towards a positive epidemiology of compassion: Exploring the transmission dynamics of acts of microkindness

Authors

  • Tim Lomas Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology & Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9458-6185
  • Tyler J. VanderWeele Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology & Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6112-0239

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v16i2.5521

Abstract

Recent years have seen enthusiasm for a “positive epidemiology,” extending the standard focus on disease in epidemiology to encompass positive health-related qualities and states, including an epidemiology of compassion. We seek to contribute towards the latter by considering a prosocial state that is closely related to compassion, namely kindness. More specifically, we advocate for attention to a form of kindness which has received minimal attention, but which we consider potentially important, namely microkindnesses: small gestures motivated by genuine warm feelings for others that benefit another, where small refers both to (a) duration (i.e., lasting less than five seconds) and (b) personal consequence to the actor (i.e., involving minimal personal harm or expense). In particular, we focus on the possibility of microkindnesses being transmitted among people, drawing on literature around collective emotions and research on kindness more broadly. We conclude by proposing an epidemiological approach to studying transmission dynamics of microkindnesses, concentrating on smiling and the potential for using AI and emotion recognition software to explore these dynamics.

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Published

2026-03-04

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2026): Towards an Epidemiology of Compassion

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Tim Lomas, Tyler J. VanderWeele

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