Social mindfulness and social skills differ around the world

PNAS August 31, 2021118 (35) e2023846118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023846118

Commentary

Humans are social animals, but not everyone cares about others to the same degree, and social mindfulness is also shaped by one's place in the world? Expecting that differences exist across countries, the question is: Does social mindfulness vary across countries? This study also investigated how it differs.

If there is no material cost at all, social mindfulness involves small acts of attention, kindness. Such low-cost cooperation receives little empirical attention.

Measuring social mindfulness across a sample of 31 developed countries, regions (n= 8,354), considerable variation was found.

Among the selected country-level variables, greater social mindfulness was found to be most strongly associated with a country's better general performance on environmental protection.

The findings appear to contribute to the literature on social mindedness by targeting the kind of everyday cooperation that focuses on conveying compassion rather than providing material benefits.