Here are some creative videos that Social Psychology students made in 2013 to document their Day of Compassion. In addition, you might find these pages of interest:
Compassion in the Park: Put Your Feelings in the Egg
5:15 minutes
Matías Barletta
Costa Rica
NOTE: For English subtitles, click the CC symbol in the lower right corner after the video starts.
During the Day of Compassion, Matías invited people in a park to participate in an exercise designed to reduce suffering. He asked them to think of someone toward whom they held negative feelings, focus those negative feelings in an egg, and throw the egg at him to release their bad feelings. Matías then guided them through a meditation on the person they had in mind; gave them a note that said "I wish you to be happy, free, and full of peace;" and thanked them with a flower and chocolate.
What Would Happen If Compassion Came First?
3:08 minutes
Pia Gustincic and Sara Zdravje
Slovenia
In this music video, Pia and Sara ask what the world would be like if everyone were to put compassion first. What would happen, for example, if everyone did their best to help others and tried not to harm other people, animals, and the environment? After listing several small and large acts of compassion, the video quotes Simone de Beauvoir: "One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others."
Driving Through Life with Compassion
8:09 minutes
John Robinette
United States
John spent the Day of Compassion driving around town looking for opportunities to serve others. While carrying out the assignment, he described the experience as "a really cool feeling; it's almost like I'm on a safari… hunting for people who need help." During the day, he distributed food bars, cleared a garbage spill from a busy road, bought a homeless man some water, and purchased a metro card for someone in need. Afterward, John reflected on the bystander effect and the role of individualism in limiting compassion, concluding: "It wouldn't take a lot, really, from each of us to make a big difference. I think that's what I'm starting to see."
A Social Psychological Analysis of Compassion
4:44 minutes
Susana Latorre
Italy
In this animated video, Susana offers some ideas on how to become more compassionate toward close friends and family, others in need, animals, and the earth itself. After thinking and reading about compassion, she defined it as the practice of "putting others first (their needs, happiness, well-being, etc.) even if it means that you have to work hard to achieve it and give up some things." Susana then outlined several obstacles to compassion, including behavioral confirmation, the bystander effect, conformity, self-handicapping, and individualism. The video concludes by suggesting how findings from social psychology might be used to increase compassion in oneself and others.
