New Gallup Study Confirms Kindness is Learned From Visible Models, Making Missouri Good Neighbor Week Even More Important

 

Thus recent Gallup study provides one of the strongest pieces of evidence I have seen in recent years for why Missouri Good Neighbor Week should continue to focus on celebrating, recognizing, and making acts of neighboring visible. The survey suggests that kindness is not simply something people do; it is something people learn and repeat after seeing it modeled by others.

Key Findings from the Gallup Study

The survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults found that:

• 60% of Americans say they often or very often see people treating others with kindness and respect. 

• 65% say they personally experienced an act of kindness from someone in their community within the past week.

• People who experience kindness are significantly more likely to feel comfortable initiating kindness toward strangers themselves. Nearly 8 in 10 people who frequently received kindness said they were very comfortable extending kindness to others.

• Americans who regularly witness kindness are much more likely to believe that people in general are kind. 

The study's central lesson is simple: Kindness creates more kindness.

Seeing it matters. Receiving it matters. Recognizing it matters. 

What This Means for Missouri Good Neighbor Week

1. Recognition is not just celebration — it is behavior change

Many recognition programs assume awards are simply a way to thank people. Gallup suggests something more powerful is happening.

When residents hear stories about a neighbor helping after a storm, checking on an elderly resident, organizing a block gathering, or welcoming a new family, those stories become examples of what neighboring looks like in practice.

People are more likely to imitate behaviors they can see.

That means every Most Engaged Neighbor nomination, every social media post, every newspaper article, and every award presentation is actually teaching neighboring behavior.

Visibility creates replicability.

2. The real product is not the award, it is the story

The Gallup findings suggest that the act of witnessing kindness may be almost as important as receiving it. This means Missouri Good Neighbor Week should continue to emphasize neighbor stories, acts of neighboring reports, local media coverage, community spotlights, and public recognition ceremonies.

The goal is not simply to honor one person.

The goal is to create hundreds or thousands of examples that others can observe and emulate.

3. Neighboring can spread through social contagion

The survey supports what social scientists often call a "ripple effect."

• People who experience kindness are more likely to extend kindness.
• People who witness kindness are more likely to believe kindness is normal.
• People who believe kindness is normal are more likely to participate themselves. 

Missouri Good Neighbor Week essentially creates a statewide ripple effect by collecting and sharing thousands of acts of neighboring.

One neighbor helps another.

Someone hears the story.

Then they decide to do something similar.

4. The survey challenges the narrative that people are becoming less neighborly

Many Americans assume society is increasingly rude, divided, and disconnected. Yet Gallup found that most Americans regularly witness kindness and personally experience it. 

This is important because neighboring initiatives often fight an uphill battle against pessimism. Missouri Good Neighbor Week provides evidence that good things are happening in communities every day.

Recognition helps people notice what already exists.

As neighboring advocates often say: What gets noticed gets repeated.

5. Younger adults may need more examples and encouragement

One of the more interesting findings was that younger adults were less likely than older adults to report seeing kindness frequently and less likely to feel very comfortable initiating kindness toward strangers. 

That suggests neighboring programs should intentionally highlight young engaged neighbors, share peer-to-peer examples, create low-risk opportunities for interaction, and celebrate small acts, not just extraordinary ones.

Young adults may not need more lectures about community.

They may simply need more visible examples of neighboring in action.

6. Reporting acts of neighboring may be as important as doing them

This may be the biggest takeaway for Missouri Good Neighbor Week.

The Gallup study suggests that if people never hear about the good things happening around them, they are less likely to believe kindness is common and less likely to initiate it themselves.

That means the annual reporting of acts of neighboring serves a larger purpose than measurement.

It creates a statewide story.

Every reported act becomes proof that neighboring is happening.

Every count on the thermometer becomes evidence that kindness exists.

Every nomination becomes a model others can follow.

This study provides strong research support for this key phrase: "When neighboring is noticed, neighboring grows."

That may be one of the clearest lessons from the Gallup findings.

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

For more information, visit the Engaged Neighbor website. Take our pledge and become part of a movement! Or subscribe to our newsletter. Access some of the research documents written by David Burton, the author of this blog. Or better yet, purchase one of his books off Amazon. Contact David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.