{"id":74711,"date":"2022-07-31T17:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=74711"},"modified":"2022-08-08T12:10:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T16:10:29","slug":"why-do-people-donate-to-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-do-people-donate-to-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do People Donate to Charity\u2014Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why do people donate<\/a> to charity? Do they truly care about the cause\u2014or just how they look to others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Elephant in the Brain<\/em>, Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson argue that charity isn\u2019t just about helping others\u2014it\u2019s also about showing off how compassionate and benevolent you are.\u00a0This is part of their general argument that human behavior is driven by selfish motives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn more about this theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Selfish Giving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why do people donate to charity? At least part of the reason is social signaling<\/a>. Just as body language<\/a> allows us to communicate about things we\u2019d never put into words, Simler and Hansen argue that many of our actions double as conspicuous fitness displays<\/em>\u2014they say to a potential mate, ally, or enemy: \u201cLook how strong, wealthy, powerful, and connected I am.\u201d<\/strong> This is especially noticeable when it comes to how we spend our money and other resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simler and Hanson point out that most people don\u2019t pay attention to how efficiently charities use their donations. They argue that charities that have been shown to use donations the most effectively remain less popular than ones that have better name recognition\u2014regardless of how objectively effective these better-known charities are. For example, they point out that the Against Malaria Foundation\u2014which has been ranked as one of the most effective charities\u2014is less popular than, say, the United Way. They suggest that one reason for this is that we know others will recognize the United Way and are therefore more likely to give us credit for donating there than they would with a more obscure\u2014but possibly more effective\u2014charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors also argue that giving is affected by visibility and peer pressure. For example, they point out that people are more likely to give when solicited to do so by an attractive member of the sex they\u2019re interested in\u2014suggesting a desire to signal favorable qualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Taming the elephant: <\/strong>If you want to make your giving more beneficial\u2014even if that means it might be less visible\u2014it\u2019s worth investigating the effective altruism<\/a> movement (which Simler and Hanson mention in the book). The idea of effective altruism is<\/a> to use objective data to figure out which charities and causes do the most good<\/a> per dollar spent. In general, effective causes are those that affect many lives, are currently neglected, and can be dramatically improved by money or other resources.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do people donate to charity? Do they truly care about the cause\u2014or just how they look to others? In The Elephant in the Brain, Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson argue that charity isn\u2019t just about helping others\u2014it\u2019s also about showing off how compassionate and benevolent you are.\u00a0This is part of their general argument that human behavior is driven by selfish motives. Continue reading to learn more about this theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":74714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,9],"tags":[708],"class_list":["post-74711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money","category-psychology","tag-the-elephant-in-the-brain","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do People Donate to Charity\u2014Really? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why do people donate to charity? Simler and Hanson argue that it's not just about helping others; it\u2019s also about showing off. 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