People are better when they are high

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, led by Dr. Lawrence Sana, who published the study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, according to New Scientist and Scientific American, first conducted experiments with an elevator. They found that the higher the elevator, the more willing the occupants were to help others.

Those who were invited to make a donation as soon as they arrived at the penthouse, gave for charity 16% of the amount at their disposal, while those who were invited to do the same while on the ground floor, gave 11%. Those who were invited to make their contribution as soon as the elevator had taken them down from the penthouse to the ground floor, gave only 7%.

In another experiment, it was found that those volunteers who were invited to devote their time to an activity going up to the stage of a theater were willing to spend much more time (11.2 minutes on average) than those who were invited to do the same work going down to the lowered space of an opera orchestra, who were more "stingy" with their time (only 6.5 minutes).

In addition, in a third experiment, those found in an elevated space showed greater compassion for others and a willingness to work with them. Participants were less willing to punish someone if they had just climbed from somewhere low, while on the contrary, if they had just climbed from somewhere high, they were tougher and willing to impose punishments.

The researchers concluded that, for some reason, when one is literally in a higher position, especially if one comes from a lower position, one feels the need to become more sensitive to others, more philanthropic and more willing to lend a helping hand. This confirms the correctness of the metaphor about "superior" people who are morally "higher" than others. After all, God, the "father" of every virtue, is not supposed to be somewhere up there, where higher is not possible?

The new study is part of a relatively new field of psychological research that shows that there are relationships between physical space and one's mental attitudes and mental perceptions, e.g. in relation to "good" and "bad". However, the exact mechanism in the brain that connects the metaphorical concepts (eg higher-high ethics) with one's behavior and movement in space (elevation-high altitude) has not yet been determined.

Many useful ideas could be gained from the new research, such as, for example, that if he wants to ask someone for a favor, he would do well to raise him somewhere high to ensure that he will hear his request more favorably!