Empathic and Numerate Giving: The Joint Effects of Victim Images and Charity Evaluation
Reinstein, D; Bergh, R
Date: 17 February 2020
Journal
Social Psychological and Personality Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Helping behaviors are often driven by emotional reactions to the suffering of
particular individuals, but these behaviors do not seem to be upregulated when many
people need help. In this paper we consider if these reactions are also “innumerate”
to information about how charities spend their money. Across six experiments we
examined ...
Helping behaviors are often driven by emotional reactions to the suffering of
particular individuals, but these behaviors do not seem to be upregulated when many
people need help. In this paper we consider if these reactions are also “innumerate”
to information about how charities spend their money. Across six experiments we
examined how images of identified victims interact with information about charity
efficiency (money toward program) and effectiveness (program outcome). We
further examined if the images primarily get people to donate (yes/no), while
efficiency/effectiveness might provide a tuning mechanism for how much to give.
Results showed that images influenced the propensity to donate and induced
participants donate their full bonuses, indicating heuristic effects. Efficiency and
effectiveness information had no effects on donations.
Economics
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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