“People who engage with the arts—either as a participant or observer—are more likely than others to participate in two varieties of compassionate behavior: charitable giving and volunteering” according to a new U.K. report, writes Tom Jacobs in Thursday’s (8/3) at Pacific Standard (Santa Barbara, CA). Based on a study by “psychologists Julie Van de Vyver of the University of Lincoln and Dominic Abrams of the University of Kent in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science … results largely mirror those of a 2012 study, which found that Americans who attend arts events are more tolerant, charitable, and civic-minded than those who do not. This new research used data on 30,476 people from all around Great Britain…. They indicated whether they participated in 14 arts activities over the past year…. Participants were also asked … [whether] they had donated money to charity, and performed any volunteer work, during the past year. ‘Arts participation and attendance independently were among the strongest predictors of charitable giving and volunteering,’ the researchers report. ‘Only age and monthly savings had larger effects than arts engagement on charitable giving, and only education level had a larger effect than arts engagement on volunteering.’ ”
Posted August 8, 2017
