How many nice people are there

Psychologists from Goldsmiths University led a study which showed that 98 per cent of the British population consider themselves in the nicest 50 per cent stock image. Give your seat to an elderly person or pregnant lady on a bus or train. Let a neighbour who you don't know well borrow your dishes and tools. If you answered 'Yes' to six or more of ten questions you are nicer than most people. The average from the researcher's survey was just under five 'Yes' answers to these questions.

The survey showed there was a strong correlation between participants' ratings of how 'nice' they are and how relaxed, happy, healthy and successful they are. There was also a correlation between people being 'nice' and having a higher number of close friends. The study was carried out by psychologists from Goldsmiths University in London.

It found people who thought they were 'nice' were generally more relaxed, happy and successful - but not necessarily more agreeable. Those who were most likely to consider themselves 'nice' people did things such as gave directions to strangers, held the door open for a stranger and gave their seat to an elderly or pregnant person on a train. Two in three people considered themselves nice if they bought 'charity' Christmas cards because they knew it was a good cause and donated time and money to charitable causes more generally.

Participants were asked about how often they performed pro-social behaviours and how easily they lose their niceness. Thirty-nine per cent of people lost their 'niceness' in frustrating tim-based situations such as traffic queues stock image. Dealing with rude people can make 73 per cent of people stop being nice. Losing an important document such as wallet or keys also throws 59 per cent of people off-course. Less than one in three people have helped someone with heavy bags and just 28 per cent of people have helped someone cross the road.

The study broke down what 'nice' meant in terms of emotional intelligence EI. This commonly describes how capable a person is of reading other people's goals and emotions, awareness of their own emotion and their ability to support the goals and interactions of other people. People who have higher emotional intelligence are also more able to deal with stressful situations. For example previous research showed that people who have higher EI scores had a calmer cardiovascular response when their hands were submerged in icy water.

The current research, which was carried out for Monarch Airlines, included a bespoke questionnaire filled out by people. Some of the participants were also asked to respond to specifically stressful stimuli and special software for analysing facial expressions could gauge the emotional response of volunteers.

The camera showed that when presented with a five minute video of traffic, confrontations, children's tantrums and awkward situations participants showed fear, anger and disgust.

This was supported by the questionnaire - 47 per cent of people cease to be nice if a child is screaming or an alarm is going off, while arguments and disagreements stopped 45 per cent of being nice.

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Argos AO. Privacy Policy Feedback. How nice are YOU? Scroll down for video. Recommended Could being nice actually be bad for you? Recommended The sinister logic behind 'Nice Guy Syndrome'. More about kindness. Already subscribed? Log in. Forgotten your password? This story has a happy ending, as a hotel guest found the money, handed it in and when Mr D enquired, he was rewarded with his cash and let me also say, he sent a bottle of wine to the guests room to say thank you — niceness rewarded with niceness.

Nice person 2. It was a genuine, lovely action — thank you Mr S, see you on the dance floor! Nice person 3. Nice person 4. Most recently, we heard that Miss K crossed paths with a nice young woman, who had a small child, and they were being forced out of their rental apartment remember I told you about the crisis? Miss K assessed the situation, and instantly offered up her spare room in exchange for some treatments the woman is a therapist.

Problem solved. Nice person 5.