Good is catching. It is not just a feeling.

4 in 10 avoid the news, sometimes or often.

And one in three say the news brings their mood down. No wonder: the bad gets the most room, because it is what we react to most.

Every negative word in a headline brings more clicks.

Try it. Pick the words in the headline and watch the clicks change. The figure comes from a study of about 105,000 headlines.

A small thing means more than you think.

Whoever does something kind for a stranger thinks it means less than it does to the one who gets it. That misjudgement makes us hold back more often than we should.

It is one reason most deeds here are told by someone who saw them. The one who did it often thinks it was nothing to speak of.

Those who received kindness did more good themselves.

At a workplace in Spain, some employees were given small, unexpected kindnesses. They went on to do many more good things for others than those who got nothing.

It can pass on, step after step.

In an experiment among strangers, generosity spread up to three steps: from the one who gave, to the next, and on. Just like a ripple.

But meanness is passed on too, and more easily.

Doing good does something for you too. A little.

In 27 experiments, people who did something kind for others felt somewhat better afterwards. The effect is small but real, and it held when it was tested again.