Study shows humans around the world like to help

Lead author, Professor Nick Enfield.

New research on the human capacity for cooperation finds that, deep down, people of diverse cultures are more similar than you might expect.

Published in Nature Scientific Reports, the study finds that from the towns of England, Italy, Poland and Russia to the villages of rural Ecuador, Ghana, Laos, and the First Nations countries across Australia, at the micro scale of our daily interaction, people everywhere tend to help others in their close social circles when needed.

“Our reliance on each other for help is constant,” said Professor Nick Enfield, of University of Sydney, who led the study with Assistant Professor Giovanni Rossi of University of California, Los Angeles.

The study found that in everyday life, someone will signal a need for assistance (for example, to pass a utensil) once every two minutes and 17 seconds on average. In all cultures, these small requests for assistance are complied with seven times more often than they are declined.

“On the rare occasions when people do decline, they explain why,” said Professor Enfield. “This human tendency to help others when needed—and to explain when such help can’t be given—transcends other cultural differences.”