A study by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas Christakis of Harvard, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, shows that when one person behaves generously, it inspires observers to behave similarly later, toward different people. In fact, the researchers found that altruism could spread by three degrees—from person to person to person to person. “As a result,” they write, “each person in a network can influence dozens or even hundreds of people, some of whom he or she does not know and has not met.”
In network marketing, the ripple effect described above is what produces the most successful Independent Business Owners. When you give, you’re more likely to get back: Several studies, including work by sociologists Brent Simpson and Robb Willer, have suggested that when you give to others, your generosity is likely to be rewarded by others down the line—sometimes by the person you gave to, sometimes by someone else.
These exchanges promote a sense of trust and cooperation that strengthens our ties to others—and research has shown that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and physical health. As researcher John Cacioppo writes in his book Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, “The more extensive the reciprocal altruism born of social connection... the greater the advance toward health, wealth, and happiness.”
What’s more, when we give to others, we don’t only make them feel closer to us; we also feel closer to them. “Being kind and generous leads you to perceive others more positively and more charitably,” writes Lyubomirsky in her book The How of Happiness, and this “fosters a heightened sense of interdependence and cooperation in your social community.” In network marketing, the result of someone feeling close and trustworthy is often a new enrollment.
In a 2006 study, Jorge Moll and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health found that when people give to charities, it activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust, creating a “warm glow” effect. Scientists also believe that altruistic behavior releases endorphins in the brain, producing the positive feeling known as the “helper’s high.”
At LifePharm Global Network, we hear and read endorsements every day from Independent Business Owners who reflect the “helper’s high.” IBOs don’t help others by giving away money; instead, the gift is the opportunity and knowledge of how to make money with some of the most effective and amazing products ever made available.
The feeling is duplicated each time an IBO sees the improved health and financial well-being of someone who embraces LPGN. There’s nothing that compares with the feeling of helping people transform their lives in every way—in LPGN terms, this means evolving in the five areas represented by the arrows in the company logo: emotional, physical, mental, financial and ethical. Sponsoring is one form of altruism—Why not double your efforts during this season of giving?