Service, please

Playing your part in the community isn’t always top of everyone’s wishlist, but there are some surprising benefits to social obligation

What do you think of when you hear the word obligation? For many, it can create an uncomfortable, often negative feeling, where you feel pressured into a commitment. Perhaps you feel a reluctance to show up and complete a task, which obligation has turned into an inconvenience. And yet, as an integral part of the fabric of society, fulfilling obligations to others can be beneficial not just for them, but for you as well. Research has shown it boosts self-esteem, improves mental health and can even help you to live longer.

Juliet Wakefield has been a social psychologist at Nottingham Trent University for 10 years, researching the concept of the social cure, which emphasises the importance of group membership for health and wellbeing. She sees obligation not as a one-way commitment, but as ‘at the heart of any kind of social interaction that is to be valued’.

According to Juliet, the idea of group membership is that it’s ‘a two-way street’, where there are reciprocal benefits of showing up and playing your role in a task. On the one hand you contribute something, but on the other it serves as a boost for your own wellbeing.