TDL Brief: The Psychology Behind Charity
Benevolence is widespread. It can be easy to look at headlines and fixate on today’s hardships, but hopefully we can ground ourselves in knowing that the world is full of people who dedicate their lives to caring for others, who volunteer and donate with little in return, who make conscious efforts to help others even if in small ways.
The concept of charity as we know it originally developed in connection with religious institutions and notions of moral sanctity, but is now embedded in society-at-large. Charitable organizations make up a large portion of the non-profit sector. Our tax code allows tax deductions for donating. Through digital and mass media culture, our exposure to organizations in need of resources has skyrocketed. The ease in which we can donate, be it through a GoFundMe or quick Venmo in response to an Instagram call-to-action, ingrains charity into our daily routines. It can be overwhelming navigating how much to donate, what resources to give, and who to give them to. Yet this complex negotiation is a testament to the expansive nature of what it means to care for others as humans.
Let’s go back to basics and take a deeper look into what motivates us to be charitable, and how an understanding of our cognitive processes can push us towards charitable behaviors.
References
- Marsh, J., & Suttie, J. (2010, December 13). 5 Ways Giving Is Good for You. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you
- Nowak, M. A. (2012, November 1). Why We Help. Scientific American. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanhuman1112-92
- Tamma, M. S. and F. (2015, March 23). The science behind why people give money to charity. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2015/mar/23/the-science-behind-why-people-give-money-to-charity
- The Decision Lab. (2020, October 29). Smart Giving for a Cognitively Saturated World: Nick Fitz and Ari Kagan. https://thedecisionlab.com/podcasts/smart-giving-for-a-cognitively-saturated-world-nick-fitz-and-ari-kagan/
- Walton, A. (2020, March 25). How charities can get an edge. Chicago Booth Review. https://review.chicagobooth.edu/behavioral-science/2020/article/how-charities-can-get-edge
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
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