Overview

Americans donate over 300 billion dollars a year to charity, but the psychological factors that govern whether to give, and how much to give, are still not well understood. Our understanding of charitable giving is based primarily upon the intuitions of fundraisers or correlational data which cannot establish causal relationships. By contrast, the chapters in this book study charity using experimental methods in which the variables of interest are experimentally manipulated. As a result, it becomes possible to identify the causal factors that underlie giving, and to design effective intervention programs that can help increase the likelihood and amount that people contribute to a cause. For charitable organizations, this book examines the efficacy of fundraising strategies commonly used by nonprofits and makes concrete recommendations about how to make capital campaigns more efficient and effective. Moreover, a number of novel factors that influence giving are identified and explored, opening the door to exciting new avenues in fundraising. For researchers, this book breaks novel theoretical ground in our understanding of how charitable decisions are made. While the chapters focus on applications to charity, the emotional, social, and cognitive mechanisms explored herein all have more general implications for the study of psychology and behavioral economics. This book highlights some of the most intriguing, surprising, and enlightening experimental studies on the topic of donation behavior, opening up exciting pathways to cross-cutting the divide between theory and practice.

Full Product Details

9781138981430

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Science of Giving will be of interest to psychologists and economists interested in understanding how people decide whether, when, and how much to donate to charitable causes. It could also be a valuable supplement as a textbook for an upper level class in applications of social psychology. This book will also give all readers much to consider about their own charitable giving. - Catherine A. Sanderson, Amherst College, USA, in PsycCRITIQUES The Science of Giving is full of information that may help a fundraiser make better decisions about how to approach donors. ... The book is a fine reference for the science of charitable giving as it stands today. ... [The Science of Giving] will yield many insights that can be applied to any organization's fundraising approach. - Joanne Fritz, About.com Guide I picked up this book and could not put it down. It masterfully links several important contributions on the market for charity. The even-handed approach should appeal to a broad audience, including academics, policymakers, and the general reader interested in the economics and psychology of charity markets. - John A. List, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, USA

The Science of Giving will be of interest to psychologists and economists interested in understanding how people decide whether, when, and how much to donate to charitable causes. It could also be a valuable supplement as a textbook for an upper level class in applications of social psychology. This book will also give all readers much to consider about their own charitable giving. - Catherine A. Sanderson, Amherst College, USA, in PsycCRITIQUES The Science of Giving is full of information that may help a fundraiser make better decisions about how to approach donors. ... The book is a fine reference for the science of charitable giving as it stands today. ... [The Science of Giving] will yield many insights that can be applied to any organization's fundraising approach. - Joanne Fritz, About.com Guide I picked up this book and could not put it down. It masterfully links several important contributions on the market for charity. The even-handed approach should appeal to a broad audience, including academics, policymakers, and the general reader interested in the economics and psychology of charity markets. - John A. List, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, USA

Author Information

Daniel M. Oppenheimer, Christopher Y. Olivola

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