Generosity From A Psychological Perspective

In recent years, new studies have been published that prove the benefits of generosity from a psychological perspective with reliable data. Some humanist-existential authors, especially Erich Fromm and Victor Frankl, dwell on ethical values ​​and on love in its various variations. In this sense, Fromm states that ethical values ​​and love constitute a source of psychological well-being and a characteristic of the emotionally healthy person (Oberst, 2005).

Generosity and gratitude are two important concepts that denote excellence of personal character (Emmons & Sheldon, 2002). Furthermore, they are somewhat complementary. The relationship between these two concepts, in fact, begins with the affective mechanism of offering a material good, advice or help to another person without expecting reciprocity; generosity is prosocial conduct that aims to improve the well-being of another person (beneficiary).

Maslow (2001) speaks of the generous nature of the human being as opposed to selfishness and unhealthy generosity. He claims that there is a relationship between generous conduct and psychological health, as the former derives from inner abundance and wealth. Selfish conduct, on the other hand, is a phenomenon that reflects inner poverty, typical of neurotic people.

The concept of gratitude from a psychological perspective

From an ethical point of view, gratitude is defined as a moral virtue which, as such, denotes good behavior (McCullogh, Kilpatrick, Emmons & Larson, 2001). However, the definition of moral behavior obliges us to be grateful for the benefits received (Blumenfeld, 1962).

Recognizing and appreciating the person who helped us does not imply that we are indebted to them. While many have suggested that gratitude and indebtedness are equivalent, in reality they are essentially different (Watkins, Scheer, Ovnicek & Kolts, 2006). The debt obliges the debtor to repay the creditor.

It is important to underline that the action of the giver must necessarily be generous, that is, devoid of a double purpose aimed at rewarding. The generous act does not aim at acquiring creditors for the sake of selfish satisfaction. 

Is generosity an indicator of mental health?

Generosity has been studied purely in the scientific research of the origin of altruism. Various empirical researchers of our time also estimate that it can be traced back to the field of mental health. The feeling of community also lies at the root of a deficit in psychological well-being and mental disorder.

When the child fails to develop a certain degree of community feeling, for example as a result of an education that is too authoritarian or too condescending, feelings of non-belonging, insufficiency, inferiority arise; the famous inferiority complex (Oberst, 2005).

Feelings of inferiority are difficult to tolerate. For this reason, the usual tendency is to activate compensation or overcompensation mechanisms that Adler calls a superiority or power complex, an aspect that according to Adlerian psychology is the basis of any psychological disorder.

Adler and the concept of generosity

The individual with feelings of inferiority – therefore with a feeling of deficient community – will develop what Adler calls a “neurotic disposition” (Adler, 1912/1993). The neurotic disposition can have various manifestations which today are more precisely defined in neuroticism as a personality trait, as well as in psychosomatic and personality disorders.

Starting from the presumed inferiority, a distortion of the emotional life arises : the neurotic is no longer able to relate to others in a natural, spontaneous way; on the contrary, to compensate for the feeling of inferiority, he continually tries to reach fatuous goals.

When this disposition is accentuated or psychosocial problems converge, character deformities such as avarice, rancor, malice, cruelty, etc. may appear. All this to escape from the unbearable feeling that arose from feeling inferior or despised.