Data — Overview
This book reviews the science of human kindness and empathy, drawing largely from psychological research. In recent years, high-profile findings in this field (and others) have proven to be less robust than we once thought. Psychologists have responded by making sure we are as transparent as possible about how much evidence supports each claim we make.
In this spirit, the author and a colleague teamed up to produce an appendix in The War for Kindness, titled “evaluating the evidence.” It provides readers with more information about the work underlying claims made in the book. On this page you can find more details about what went into this appendix.
To begin, click on any chapter below. You will find key claims from that chapter, along with a rating ranging from 1-5 and an explanation for that rating. A rating of 1 indicates that there’s not yet a great deal of evidence supporting the claim – perhaps the research is new or has yet to be replicated. A rating of 5 indicates a claim rests firmly on many studies.
You can find more information on this approach in the book itself. We hope this helps you better understand the ideas discussed in it, as well as how dynamic and exciting the science of kindness truly is.
— Jamil Zaki & Kari Leibowitz