Overview

Each year, people donate billions to charities that are but a fraction as impactful as the most effective charities. Why is that? Why are people not helping others more effectively, as proposed by effective altruism? This book seeks to give a psychological explanation, drawing on decades of empirical research. It investigates the role of preferences, norms, and beliefs and shows how intuition can limit impact. The second part of the book shows how we can overcome these obstacles through information campaigns, incentivization techniques, and fundamental value change. It ends with a discussion of how we can use psychology to apply effective altruism in everyday life. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

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9780197757376

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Effective Altruism and the Human Mind is a pioneering study of the psychology of giving and the barriers to giving more effectively. If this important book is widely read and its lessons heeded, it will do an immense amount of good. * Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University and author of The Life You Can Save * Schubert and Caviola delve deep into the interplay between the rationality of effective altruism and the psychological forces that guide ethical decision making. With keen insight and a wealth of research about ineffective giving, this book highlights the tensions between reason and compassion that can undermine the objectives of effective altruism. But it doesn't stop at mere analysis. It then offers a host of practical strategies for nudging people to channel their generosity toward greater impact. * Deborah Small, Professor of Marketing, Yale School of Management * Ordinary people can do superhero levels of good-saving lives, preventing mass suffering, and reducing the odds of global catastrophe—not just in theory, but in cold, hard fact. And yet we neglect our moral superpowers. This book explains why. Drawing on fascinating science and worldwise wisdom, Schubert and Caviola define the psychological obstacles to human flourishing and offer strategies for removing them. Read this brilliant book and pass it on. * Joshua Greene, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them *

Author Information

Stefan Schubert is a researcher in philosophy and moral psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He did his PhD at Lund University, Sweden, and has subsequently worked at the University of Oxford and LSE. In recent years, his research has focused on effective altruism and longtermism, broadly construed. Lucius Caviola is a moral psychologist at the University of Oxford and Harvard University. He completed his PhD in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on moral attitudes and decision-making in pro-social contexts, including charitable giving, moral circle expansion, and societal risk reduction.

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