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Raemon comments on Approving reinforces low-effort behaviors - Less Wrong
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I've actually heard (but not experienced) that working in soup kitchens and similar things actually does make you feel good in a way that isn't obvious until you've tried it. (That's where the whole "warm-fuzzy" charity thing comes from.) So its more of a (- want, + like, + approve) thing.
(It might not work as well for people on lesswrong who've been conditioned to think of it as wasted time that could have been spent raising money for micronutrients to send to third-world countries)
Still, I get the idea.
Trying to think of an appropriate substitute, I think listening to/watching/reading horrible-but-popular things would do it for me. I didn't want to or enjoy watching What The Bleep Do We Know or Expelled, but I approve of doing it to at least know what they were on about. There are many books that fall under this category that I still need to read even though I really don't want to.
I know it works for some people; unfortunately it doesn't work for me. Though maybe I've just been trying the wrong charitable activities.
I've been meaning to try it out, since the potential +happiness and +goodness seemed like an obvious win, but I keep putting it off. My excuse this week is I have the flu.
I've never worked in a soup kitchen (although I should, because I think I might enjoy it) but I've found that often when I voluntarily engage in a social and purely beneficial activity I enjoy myself enormously. There's a kind of comraderie going on, it's like the pleasure of social interaction is combining with the pleasure of Helping in just the right ways.
I don't expect it would work all the time, or for everyone. And I usually feel differently when I'm forced to do something instead of volunteering. Still, it could be a factor in why some people enjoy that sort of thing.