Smart Giving for a Cognitively Saturated World: Nick Fitz and Ari Kagan
We see lots of people asking “Where can my money do good? Where can I actually help?” One of the things that we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about at Momentum was actually helping people understand which organizations are doing great work … and so, we’re trying to help people actually sort through the [choice overload], since there are so many different options. And I think that applies not just to giving but to all of the ways you can engage, whether it’s volunteering, whether it’s posting on social media, or whether it’s calling people to get out the vote. There are so many different options, and I wonder whether maybe a sense of powerlessness comes from the lack of clarity around what you should do. “What is my responsibility? What is enough? What is going to work?”
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Intro
In this episode of The Decision Corner, we discuss giving, incentives, and the ethics of behavioral science with Ari Kagan and Nick Fitz, the co-founders and executives at Momentum. Momentum is a charity that ties donations to everyday choices. For example, every time Donald Trump tweets, the app will have you automatically donate 10 cents to civil rights and racial justice groups. Nick and Ari have extensive research experience in behavioral science. They both held senior positions at the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University before starting up their donation company.
Topics mentioned in this episode include:
- How to make our daily activities contribute to making the world the kind of place we want it to be
- The consequences of evolutionary change on our cognitive system, especially with respect to social connection and meaning-making
- The feeling of power versus the real thing, and what that has to do with choice overload bias
- Utilitarianism and the role of fairness in donation decision-making
- Samantha, Baby Jessica, and the problems of personalized donations
- Stalin’s insight on donation psychology
- The twin problems of paternalism and finding the right decision-makers
