The Kindness Experiment

A series of people in Bristol embark on a journey of doing something kind for someone else. Along the way they reflect on what it is to be kind and to receive kindness. What stops us from being kind sometimes and how does it feel to do something nice for a stranger, expecting nothing in return?
In the first episode we meet a random group of people in the local shop in St Werburghs in Bristol run by Ali. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows him and talks about how kind he is to all of his customers. Setting up shop in his store Ella Scotland Waters meets some of those customers and engages them in conversations that ask them to reflect on kindness and what it means to them. Some of them will take up the challenge across the week to do something kind for someone they don't know and don't neccessarily even like and to see what effect that has both on the recipient but also on themselves and their wellbeing.

With the participation and advice of Professor Bruce Hood from the School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol. His Happiness courses have helped his students during lockdown. Can he help us all to be kinder?

Presenter: Ella Scotland Waters

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Maggie Ayre

What happens when we're kind, and when we receive kindness - especially from strangers?

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers

In this episode James who works in construction admits he was unkind to a woman who was shouting at him in the street. He regrets shouting back at her but says that people get what they give. But then his conversation with Ella in the corner shop in the St Werburghs area of Bristol is interrupted by the same woman who barges past angry and distressed. What happens when Ella and James intervene to try and make amends?

Presenter: Ella Scotland Waters
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Maggie Ayre

With Professor Bruce Hood of the School of Psychological Science at the University of Bristol

Can we spread kindness and what good does it do?

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers

Today Ella Scotland Waters meets Jill and challenges her to think about kindness and to do something kind for a stranger. The responses are mixed. Some people are wary of strangers offering them gifts, sensing a possible ulterior motive. Others don't believe that doing a random act of kindness for a stranger is genuine because we often don't know what people actually need. So it sets Ella and Jill thinking about how to overcome some of the barriers to being kind, and how to be kind to people who are not deserving and in some cases being hostile and aggressive. It leads to some interesting discussion about the complexities of being kind.

And Ella sets out to track down a young man who stopped to offer her kindness when she was in need. She's heard he works on a local building site but can she find him?

Professor Bruce Hood of the University of Bristol's School of Psychological Science is on hand to guide us through the results of research that prove the benefits of kindness outweigh any obstacles.

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Maggie Ayre

A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers.

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers

Has the pandemic made us kinder? Many people report an increased feeling of connection and kindness towards the people in their neighbourhoods since we began to be locked down last year. Today Ella meets Simon and Sarah who've become friends over the last year. Architect Simon signed up as an NHS Volunteer last Spring and has been shopping and collecting medication for Sarah who has been shielding. Simon says he has been surrounded by kindness all of his life so it's instinctive for him to want to be kind to others. He's less keen on being labelled 'kind' though but admits that helping other people enriches his life. Could he be an example of the concept of eudemonia, the Ancient Greek idea of living well through altruism?

Earlier in the week Ella set out to find a young man who'd stopped for her when she was upset in a park. She wants to repay his kindness. She remembers he said he worked on a building site so she goes there to thank him and to talk to him about kindness

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio, Bristol

A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers.

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers

In this episode Ella Scotland Waters rounds off her week of kindness experiments meeting strangers and asking them about kindness. Today she meets a young man who grew up as a Jehovah's Witness. When he left the faith five years ago he moved to Bristol and relied on the kindness of strangers to settle. He talks about the meaning of kindness as he now sees it having moved away from the religious concept of being a good and kind person. He meets Margaret who Ella met in the corner shop at the beginning of the week and surprises her when she returns home with a small gift of tea and biscuits. He reflects on how he used to knock on doors as a Jehovah's Witness offering eternal life, and how now knocking on strangers' doors to give them a small gift as a token of kindness is an uplifting way of making connections in your community.
The young man who stopped to offer Ella kindness a few months ago returns to reflect on how the story of his act of kindness has reverberated through his workplace with positive results and how the praise he has received for doing something however small for someone has given him a lot to think about.
Professor Bruce Hood of the School of Psychological Science sets out the physical and mental benefits to us of being kind and says that these small acts help not only other people but also ourselves. And if we can practise kindness regularly it can have profound effects on our wellbeing.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers.

Can we turn bad vibes into good vibes? A feel-good series about the kindness of strangers