Does it Pay to be Nice?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most of us want to be nice. But is it all it's cracked up to be? It's a question that's been nagging at listener Tony in Illinois, USA, for over 25 years. While studying at university, the lecturer asked him whether competing or co-operating was the best strategy for success – essentially, does it pay to work together or should we sharpen our elbows and look after number one?

Nastaran Tavakoli-Far goes in search of answers. She talks to a local hero about why he puts his life on the line for others, and visits a neuroscientist to find out what happens in the brain when we help others. Her quest also leads her to question whether women really are the more co-operative sex and how an animal called a kudu might reveal how human co-operation evolved in the first place.

Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk

(Image: John Cook from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. Credit: Anna Lacey / BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, you've chosen to download an edition of Crowd Science from the BBC World Service.
0:05.2	On behalf of the team, I'd like to congratulate you on your excellent taste.
0:09.6	Happy listening.
0:10.6	And if you're inspired with a science question of your own that you want answered,
0:14.0	details are at the end of the show.
0:20.0	Hello and welcome to Crowd Science on the BBC World Service.
0:23.6	I'm Nastra Antavikorlifar.
0:25.5	This week's question about life, the universe,
0:27.8	and everything in between is from Tony in the US.
0:30.8	Hi Crowd Science, I'm Tony Samara and I'm calling you from Champaign, Illinois.
0:37.2	My question for today's program is, does it pay to be nice? Okay, now that doesn't immediately sound like a science question,
0:46.0	but let's think about it.
0:48.0	What is niceness?
0:50.0	If I take a look in the dictionary here,
0:52.0	it says good natured and kind, which I suppose includes
0:57.1	thinking about other people, acts of selflessness, and putting the needs of others before
1:01.7	your own. But it's also about having the ability to be friendly,
1:05.4	cooperating to achieve a common goal, being a good team player.
1:08.8	These ideas of cooperation and competition have been with Tony for over 25 years since it came up in a class at university.
1:17.0	They brought it up in a management course.
1:19.0	If you have a project to do, for example, whether it's better to split your people into groups and have a
1:25.0	competition for the best idea or best outcome, or is it better to work together on it?
	...

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