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Our work suggests that simply being part of a positive, prosocial interaction is meaningful beyond whatever it is a person receives. People understand that cupcakes can make folks feel good, to be sure, but it turns out that cupcakes given in kindness can make them feel surprisingly good.
我们的工作表明，仅仅参与积极的、亲社会的互动就比一个人收到的任何东西更有意义。可以肯定的是，人们知道纸杯蛋糕可以让人感觉良好，但事实证明，善意赠送的纸杯蛋糕会让他们感觉出奇的好。
When someone is thinking primarily about the tasty treat they are giving away, they may not realize that the warmth of that gesture is an extra ingredient that can make the cupcake even sweeter.
当某人主要考虑他们赠送的美味佳肴时，他们可能没有意识到本身这个善举的温暖就是一种额外的配料，一种使纸杯蛋糕变得更甜的配料。
Missing the importance of warmth may stand in the way of being kinder in daily life. People generally want to perform kind actions--in fact, many of our participants noted that they'd like to do so more often. But our data suggest that underestimating the impact of one's actions may reduce the likelihood of kindness. If people undervalue this impact, they might not bother to carry out these warm, prosocial behaviors.
忽视温暖的重要性可能会妨碍在日常生活中表现得更友善。人们通常希望做出善意的举动----事实上，我们的许多参与者都表示他们愿意更频繁地这样做。但我们的数据表明，低估一个人行为的影响可能会降低行善的可能性。如果人们低估了这种影响，他们可能不会费心去做这些温暖的、亲社会的行为。
Furthermore, the consequences of these acts may go beyond a single recipient: kindness can be contagious. In another experiment, we had people play an economic game that allowed us to examine what are sometimes called "pay it forward" effects.
此外，这些行为的后果可能会影响不止一个接受者：善意可以传染。在另一个实验中，我们让人们进行一个经济博弈，让我们可以评估有时被称为"爱心接力"的效应。
In this game, participants allocated money between themselves and a person whom they would never meet. People who had just been on the receiving end of a kind act gave substantially more to an anonymous person than those who had not. Meanwhile the person who performed the initial act did not recognize that their generosity would spill over in these downstream interactions.
在这场博弈中，参与者在他们自己和一个他们永远不会见面的人之间分配金钱。刚刚接受过善举的人比没有接受过的人对匿名者的捐赠要多得多。与此同时，执行初始行为的人并没有意识到他们的慷慨会在后阶段的互动中满溢出来。
These findings suggest that what might seem small when we are deciding whether or not to do something nice for someone else could matter a great deal to the person we do it for. Given that these warm gestures can enhance our own mood and brighten the day of another person, why not choose kindness when we can?
这些发现表明，当我们决定是否为别人做点好事时，看似微不足道的事情对我们善意行为接受的人来说却意义重大。如果这些温暖的举动可以提升我们自己的心情，且让另一个人的一天充满阳光，那么为什么不在我们可以的时候选择善良呢？
