Last week, I did an experiment.

Backstory – I drive alot!

Mainly along a main road that has smaller feeder roads merging into it, without traffic lights. Drivers on the feeder roads rely on those on the main road to voluntarily let them in.

At every opportunity, I consciously allowed someone from these smaller roads to merge in front of me.

Guess what happened?

More often than not, the person I let in, or the driver directly behind me would then do the same at the next opportunity they had!

This also gave people a reason to notice each other and interact (thank you waves, quick flashes of headlights, on-off hazard lights). The road was a happier place.

Of course there were people too preoccupied to notice, or the ones who just weren’t feeling it. But in most cases, it worked!

While this confirmed 2 suspicions I already had:

……People are generally good

……Good inspires more good

It did make me wonder about 2 other things….

……What’s the smart-researchy reason this happens

…… How much potential do we all have everyday to do something that starts a chain reaction of good.

So it turns out there’s a story behind our inclination to copy acts of kindness.

Psychologists call it the “Chameleon Effect,” and it’s all about our subconscious desire to fit in and create social harmony.

It’s linked to our evolutionary history, where social cohesion was crucial for survival. Back then, copying positive behavior strengthened group bonds and helped people work together

Now you can argue that letting someone into the traffic is hardly on the same level as, say, world peace, but my counter argument is that it is… many things start small.

So, here’s my challenge for you:

Create a ripple and watch it spread!

What’s one small good thing you can do today? I’d love to hear about it.

Cheers to spreading good,