Head Lines; September / October 2012; Scientific American Mind; by Jessica Gross, Ruth Williams, Harvey Black, Stephani Sutherland, Daisy Yuhas, Carrie Arnold, Melinda Wenner Moyer, Rachel Kaufman, Tori Rodriguez, Charles Q. Choi, Amy Mayer,; 9 Page(s)

Recalling childhood memories can lead people to behave more ethically, according to a study published in April in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

In a series of experiments done by Francesca Gino and Sreedhari Desai of Harvard University, participants were more likely to help the experimenters with an extra task, judge unethical behavior harshly and donate money to charity when they had actively remembered their childhood (as opposed to their teenage years). The effect held whether the memories were positive or negative—although, notably, the study subjects did not have traumatic histories.