Reality 2: Humans are naturally kind and caring

Humans are naturally kind and caring because we are social animals. Caring for each other has been central to our evolutionary past and remains deeply rooted in each of us today. But we live in a culture which glorifies the worst in human nature by holding up people, organisations and countries that exploit others to gain wealth, power and influence as examples of ‘success’ to be admired and emulated.

We all hold both compassionate and selfish values to some extent. Which values dominate is largely shaped by our experience of the world – families, peer groups, education, workplaces, politics, media, advertising, etc. The more we are exposed to the dominant narrative that people are fundamentally selfish and self-serving, the more likely our own values will shift to become less concerned and caring.

This matters because the relative strength of our compassionate versus selfish values influences how we think and what we do. It’s no surprise that the more we care, the more we take action by, for example, volunteering, adopting green behaviours, becoming politically involved, etc. Conversely, the more we think other people are generally selfish, the less connected we are to our communities and less likely to act for social and environmental good.

Implication 1: Sustainability leaders should use their organisations’ reach to shift the narrative from ‘me’ to ‘we’

As humans are naturally kind and caring, compassionate values predominate in around three quarters of people. This means the majority of the population are predisposed to act positively for people and the environment. Unfortunately most of them think other people are selfish, which means they are less likely to take positive action – because what’s the point if so few people care?

There is a huge potential for social change if only people realise that, despite what they believe, they are part of a concerned and caring majority. Simply spreading this truth will unlock most people’s natural propensity to act in ways that are good for people and the planet.

Sustainability leaders, especially leaders of organisations which communicate and engage with large numbers of people, have an extraordinary opportunity to tell this story in ways that fit with their mission – and in doing so shift the dominant narrative in society from ‘me’ to ‘we’.

Implication 2: Design sustainability projects that engage and reinforce compassionate values

Using an organisation’s culture and values to shift the narrative from me to we, is relevant to all leaders. Implication 2 is particularly relevant to anyone designing and delivering campaigns and projects that aim to influence and engage people and organisations to adopt sustainability-related actions.

Promoting sustainability initiatives in ways that emphasise economic benefits are highly likely to backfire. This is because values behave like a see-saw with compassionate values on one side and selfish values on the other. If people’s compassionate values are engaged, their selfish values are suppressed - and vice versa.

Sustainability initiatives which use economic messaging will engage people’s selfish values, reinforcing the dominant ways of thinking that drive the problems we need to solve. For long-term success, initiatives need to first and foremost be designed and delivered in ways that engage and reinforce people’s compassionate values. This means appealing to people as concerned and caring humans, not job titles with corporate targets to deliver.

Learn more about how humans are naturally kind and caring, how values work and how to work with values

For a deeper dive into the implications above read these two blogs by Osbert Lancaster, Director of Natural Change and Realise Earth:

• Working towards a social tipping point from ‘me’ to ‘we’: How organisations can use their ‘heartprint’ to celebrate and reinforce the best in human nature
• Sustainability initiatives are missing a trick: By focusing on value rather than values, initiatives may be putting quick wins before long term success

One of the leading organisations in the understanding of values and their role in creating an equitable, sustainable and democratic society is the Common Cause Foundation. Common Cause have a useful collection of resources. Especially relevant are:

• Perceptions Matter: The Common Cause UK Values Survey which is the source for the evidence that most people are compassionate, while believing others are selfish.
• Communicating Bigger-than-self Problems to Extrinsically-oriented Audiences on why engaging compassionate values is an achievable and highly effective way of promoting action on social and environmental problems.
• The Common Cause Handbook is an accessible and easy to read guide to how values work and why they matter so much.

Several of us at Natural Change and Realise Earth have collaborated closely with Common Cause over the years and values are a thread running through all our work including organisational change, sustainability programme design and mentoring. Contact us if you’d like to find out more.

For wide ranging and deeply illuminating study of human nature read Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Set to be one of the most influential books of the decade, Humankind provides powerful arguments and evidence to debunk the pervasive and pessimistic view that people are fundamentally selfish. Bregman allows us to be hopeful about the potential for people to work together collaboratively at a time when this is perhaps the one thing that is most needed to enable humanity to change course so all can thrive.

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Header photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash