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Thread: Why cuteness wins over neediness when making charitable donations

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    Trish's Avatar Senior Member
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    Why cuteness wins over neediness when making charitable donations

    What is the most important factor you consider before choosing where you might make a donation to charity? Most people I ask reply, understandably, that the neediness of the recipient is key.

    But the choices donors actually make suggest that the neediest recipients are often allocated a disproportionally small share of charitable giving. Universities in the US, for example, attract far greater philanthropic contributions than charity organisations addressing the most pressing needs of the developing world.

    To investigate the degree of this disparity, which we call the “charity beauty premium”, my colleagues Cynthia Cryder, Simona Botti and I asked people to donate to one (or more) of eight endangered species supported by a national conservation centre.
    We found that the donors didn’t support the species that had the greater need for conservation – but those rated the “cuter” animals.

    Similarly, people were inclined to help more beautiful human recipients, when they had to make decisions about children or adults helped by charities. This tendency to donate to more attractive rather than to needier recipients seemed even more puzzling when we found that attractive people were perceived to be less needy. So why do people claim to care so much about neediness and then seemingly donate according to attraction?

    Want vs shouldOne reason for this is that we can simultaneously hold “want” and “should” preferences.

    Empathy countsHowever, the “charity beauty premium” effect seems to disappear in situations when donors experience high levels of empathy towards potential recipients.

    https://theconversation.com/why-cute...onations-87300

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    donttread's Avatar Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trish View Post
    What is the most important factor you consider before choosing where you might make a donation to charity? Most people I ask reply, understandably, that the neediness of the recipient is key.

    But the choices donors actually make suggest that the neediest recipients are often allocated a disproportionally small share of charitable giving. Universities in the US, for example, attract far greater philanthropic contributions than charity organisations addressing the most pressing needs of the developing world.

    To investigate the degree of this disparity, which we call the “charity beauty premium”, my colleagues Cynthia Cryder, Simona Botti and I asked people to donate to one (or more) of eight endangered species supported by a national conservation centre.
    We found that the donors didn’t support the species that had the greater need for conservation – but those rated the “cuter” animals.

    Similarly, people were inclined to help more beautiful human recipients, when they had to make decisions about children or adults helped by charities. This tendency to donate to more attractive rather than to needier recipients seemed even more puzzling when we found that attractive people were perceived to be less needy. So why do people claim to care so much about neediness and then seemingly donate according to attraction?

    Want vs shouldOne reason for this is that we can simultaneously hold “want” and “should” preferences.

    Empathy countsHowever, the “charity beauty premium” effect seems to disappear in situations when donors experience high levels of empathy towards potential recipients.

    https://theconversation.com/why-cute...onations-87300
    The drives we "don't have" rule us to a frightening extent.

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    Standing Wolf's Avatar Senior Member
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    Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

    "Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry

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    donttread's Avatar Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trish View Post
    What is the most important factor you consider before choosing where you might make a donation to charity? Most people I ask reply, understandably, that the neediness of the recipient is key.

    But the choices donors actually make suggest that the neediest recipients are often allocated a disproportionally small share of charitable giving. Universities in the US, for example, attract far greater philanthropic contributions than charity organisations addressing the most pressing needs of the developing world.

    To investigate the degree of this disparity, which we call the “charity beauty premium”, my colleagues Cynthia Cryder, Simona Botti and I asked people to donate to one (or more) of eight endangered species supported by a national conservation centre.
    We found that the donors didn’t support the species that had the greater need for conservation – but those rated the “cuter” animals.

    Similarly, people were inclined to help more beautiful human recipients, when they had to make decisions about children or adults helped by charities. This tendency to donate to more attractive rather than to needier recipients seemed even more puzzling when we found that attractive people were perceived to be less needy. So why do people claim to care so much about neediness and then seemingly donate according to attraction?

    Want vs shouldOne reason for this is that we can simultaneously hold “want” and “should” preferences.

    Empathy countsHowever, the “charity beauty premium” effect seems to disappear in situations when donors experience high levels of empathy towards potential recipients.

    https://theconversation.com/why-cute...onations-87300

    My son once showed me an experience where a girl next door type tried to bum a couple of buckes from guys. She wore the same dress in red and in white and one was more effective. She appeared to stick to the script very well and not alter her approach to skew the experiment. While I can't remenber which was more effective for sure , I think it was the red as the white was "too chaste " for our taste.
    Just brain pathways getting buttons pushed is a bigger part of who we are than we ever knew and a very difficult thing to accept. Also incrediably easily manipulated by marketers and governments.

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