Mission and Vision

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To Promote healthy relationships, prosocial behavior, and a better humanity by bringing insights from social psychology and relationship science to the general public in creative ways so that everyone can benefit from them. These insights, if known and applied, provide a key toward a better humanity.

Toward A Better Humanity was incorporated in November 2020 as an independent organization focused on the mission of creating a better humanity. The purpose is to create a better humanity on a broad scale by tackling important societal issues through insights from research in social psychology and relationship science. The goal is to bring social psychological insights – and insights from relationship science - to the general public in creative ways (and develop interventions based on these insights) so that everyone can benefit from them. These insights, if known and applied, can provide a key to  a better humanity. Such insights can help every human being grow into their best selves and full potential, enabling them to develop, flourish, restore, heal, build, and sow the seeds needed for lasting societal change and a better humanity.

To elaborate, there are important social issues in our society and world that must be addressed with great determination and permanency. Social psychologists and relationship scientists have been conducting basic research on these issues for decades and have amassed important insights – yet very little of these insights are known to the general public or have been applied to making humanity better. Toward a Better Humanity is an organization with the exciting mission of changing that circumstance via a variety of research-based, creative/innovative tools and products. This organization also will enable researchers (social psychologists and relationship scientists, internal and external to the organization) to work together in synergistic and valuable ways to creatively apply research-based insights to promote a better humanity.

Goals: 

(1)  To develop, produce, and implement research-based tools and products for creating a better humanity. This includes: (a) publishing (via our publishing center) informational “how to” guides and books for the general public (for adults and children, covering a wide range of topics) focused on addressing important social issues – to communicate research-based information about how to contribute to a better humanity – and aimed at raising new generations of better humans, (b) creating games that teach research-based information and behaviors that benefit humanity, (c) developing new research-based social media platforms and applications that benefit humanity (for increasing healthy social connections, delivering interventions, and conducting research aimed at creating a better humanity), (d) creating instructional videos and other educational resources aimed toward a better humanity by teaching social psychological insights. These diverse tools and products will implement or teach strategies and behaviors (many of which are easy to enact) that benefit and unite individuals, couples, families, teams, groups, organizations, society and humanity.

(2)  To conduct research to develop and test social psychological intervention and prevention tools and products for creating a better humanity. This will include (a) in-house research to develop and test new products, as well as support of external research aimed toward identifying and testing interventions and products informed by social psychology and relationship science, (b) a survey center for identifying baselines and specific problem areas for purposes of intervening to increase beneficial outcomes (survey development, implementation, and analysis services), and (c) development of new research technology for reaching large samples of participants for conducting social psychological intervention and prevention research.

(3)  To create (as research-based tools and products accumulate) an educational center that provides both in-house training and external consulting services for a number of topics including but not limited to (a) relationship enhancement training, (b) leadership training, (c) bias-awareness training, (d) training on effective social interactions, (e) training on effective between and within group processes, and (f) social connection and community building education. The goal is to  have a physical presence in the community (local and abroad) for all to visit for purchasing or receiving products, participating in training or educational experiences, participating in research studies to contribute to scientific research on important issues, and for camaraderie and positive, unifying interactions.

(4)  To give generously to meet the needs of humanity. Much of the profits to the organization will be used to fund the mission of Toward A Better Humanity including (a) continued research aimed toward addressing societal issues and creating a better humanity, (b) product development aimed toward a better humanity by applying research-based insights, and (c) outreach efforts to address immediate and long-term needs of humanity. This includes generous incentives for researchers to contribute to the company’s mission (e.g., strong royalties for guidebooks written/published and products developed toward the company’s mission), as well as generous efforts to reach communities to build positive social relations. Also, a minimum of 10% of profits from each product sold will be donated toward meeting a humanitarian need; the goal is for this amount to increase as the organization develops and becomes financially stable. Because the goal is for this organization to become financially self=sustaining toward its mission, it is incorporated as a company (LLC) instead of a non-profit.

In sum, the overarching purpose is to promote healthy relationships, prosocial behavior, and thus a better humanity via the development and implementation of products (e.g., guidebooks, games, technology), and other educational resources and programs, that apply research in social psychology and relationship science to address important societal issues. Toward A Better Humanity will increase public awareness of how social psychology and relationship science is important and beneficial for addressing societal issues and creating a better humanity. In addition to product development, this company will secure and provide research resources, and connect with communities to promote continued growth and learning. All aims are focused on addressing societal problems with more permanency, and on reaching larger masses of people, than has been accomplished in the past. All services, recommendations, and products will be based in scientific knowledge (empirical research) that provides evidence for beneficial outcomes.

Topic areas include (but are not limited to):

· Increasing compassion and kindness

· Promoting healthy relationships

· Enhancing social connectedness

· Promoting healthy marriages and families

· Promoting equity and inclusion; combating gender and racial inequities 

   (and all forms of inequity)

· Combating stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and stigma

· Combating loneliness and isolation (all forms of relationship disconnection)

· Combating bullying and negative effects of ostracism, rejection, and social exclusion

· Promoting cooperation within and between groups

· Reducing conflict within and between groups 

· Increasing prosocial behavior, teamwork, and equity in companies and organizations

· Increasing prosocial, effective leadership (to prevent and combat bias)

· Informing a healthy political process and inter-group cooperation to benefit humanity

· Increasing helping, altruism, perspective-taking, and the provision of social support

· Increasing happiness and life satisfaction

· Combating stumbling blocks to prosocial behavior 

   (e.g., combating conformity, diffusion of responsibility, unethical and blind obedience 

   to authoritative figures, disinformation, preventing depletion of shared resources)

· Preventing sexual harassment and assault

· Increasing healthy emotion-regulation and expression

· Combating aggression and violence

· Promoting healthy decision-making

· Increasing morality and moral behavior

· Promoting a healthy sense of self-worth (self-esteem)

And many other topics researched by social psychologists and relationship scientists

Toward A Better Humanity supports prevention and intervention research aimed at addressing these topics, as well as the development and implementation of products, programs, technology, and other educational tools resulting from that research.

Thus, our aims are to:

1.  Increase awareness of how social psychology and relationship science is important for addressing societal issues.

2.  Conduct intervention and prevention research and implement effective outcomes of this research to benefit society and address important social problems.

3.  Provide research-based products, services, and tools (e.g., leadership training, guidebooks) aimed toward a better humanity.

4.  Develop new research-based technology to benefit humanity (e.g., social media and application development focused on a better humanity).

5.  Provide research services (e.g., survey development and implementation) and facilitate research collaborations focused on applying social psychological and relationship science insights to creating a better humanity.

6.  Give to meet the needs of humanity.

Our mission is to reach and benefit all of humanity.