Good picture. Together, we can punch the sun!
I'd be hesitant to generalize from normal people's motivations for giving to those of optimal philanthropists.
Do you think advocating optimal philanthropy is likely to yield greater returns than more direct ways to reduce existential risk? I could see it going either way, and it's hard to figure out what calculations to do to find out.
I decided to adopt "Together, we can punch the sun!" as a personal motto even before I scrolled back up and saw the relevant photo.
Now I just need to decide what it's a motto for.
I am also co-authoring a journal article and a popular pamphlet which make the case for x-risk reduction as the most optimal philanthropic venture. :)
Three cheers for sun-punching.
To give you something to argue against, consider the position that "saving the world" spreads because it acts as a superstimulus to do-gooders. There's no credible evidence that aiming at saving the world has any effect on the probability of the world ending. By contrast, "the end is nigh" plackard syndrome is well known - and it diverts resources from other potentially-useful tasks.
I would like to see a thorough analysis of how someone raising funds can use the tricks from Cialdini's Influence to effectively contribute to charity. Even those without funds could use that sort of lesson to contribute meaningfully.
Darn you, comment retraction mechanism.
Why do we see this 'Time-Ask Effect'? Perhaps it is because thinking about spending time on something activates a mindset of emotional meaning and satisfaction, allowing a donor to connect emotionally with a charity, whereas thinking about spending money activates a purely instrumental mindset.15 Whatever the reason, asking for time before money may result in more of both.
I must be more cynical than you. I'd think that if people said "yes", then they've already committed themselves to the organization and so would to give money, and/or if they said no, they would be feeling unpleasantly non-altruistic and would give money to assuage their conscience. Did the studies show differences in the money-ask broken down by whether they said yes or no to the time-ask?
Also, is there any data on whether people feel happier only after donating to fuzzy charities like the local animal shelter, or whether they'll also feel happier donating to something very abstract like SIAI?
About giving making you happy. I don't understand the research. I looked at Dunn's paper, but don't get the claim. They report (p. 5) that the result of participants asked to spend 5$ or 20$ on others/themselves is [mean = .18 / SD = .62] / [mean = -.19, SD = .66], respectively. What's the scale they use or the real distribution? (I can't figure it out from the paper alone.) Isn't this a huge SD? I also looked at Amazon's preview of The Science of Giving, but it includes no numbers whatsoever.
I ask because Dunn and Anik report significant improvements even...
What is the optimal time to donate to a charity?
As soon as funds become available? At set time intervals? After saving, accumulating interest, and waiting for a potentially larger than normal impact period?
This post made my day, which was already one of my best days of the summer EVER BETTER. Thank you. EDIT: I hope i get approved though, i only earn ~10,000$ a year and live at home/dorm.
So, should charities remind people that donating will make them happy?
I worry that this might actually have the opposite effect.
There was a time when I helped people due to an explicit goal to feel good about myself, and less because I cared about them. Over time, it changed to me helping them because I wanted to. But before it did, I actually got very little satisfaction out of helping them, because I knew I was just doing it for selfish reasons. I remember complaining about this to someone.
I have seen a similar idea, presented in a much more cynical form. Essentially arguing that people give to charity because it makes them feel less bad about doing bad things during the rest of their day.
While donating may make people happier, is anything known about the donating habits of people who exhibit above-average happiness (controlling, of course, for how difficult it is to measure happiness)?
It would be interesting to see if it goes both ways.
I just signed up for the SI credit card. My current one gave me no benefits, so this was a no-brainer move, and it took less than 10 minutes.
So where can I find anecdotes about how awesome and fun it is to be saving the world through FAI research and how rewarding it is to see your work have a direct impact, so I have something vicariously available to imagine when you ask me to donate my time?
I think I would consider a charity saying "Give, it'll make you happy!" to be really suspicious...
And why would giving away money to charities be a good idea? Returns on investment of almost all of them are extremely close to none, and most people are horrible at identifying the exceptions.
For every effective cause like let's say polio eradication, Wikileaks, and whatever GiveWell considers good, there's thousands of charities that essentially waste your money. Especially SIAI.
You're trying to use methods of rationality to come up with the best way to appeal to emotions.
Just weighing in here:
SIAI is an organization built around a particular set of theories about AI -- theories not all AI researchers share. If SIAI's theories are right, they are the most important organization in the world. If they're wrong, they're unimportant.
The field of AI has been littered with (metaphorical) corpses since the 1960's. If an AI researcher tells you any theory, you have a very, very strong prior for believing it is false -- especially if it concerns "general" intelligence or "human-level" intelligence. So, Eliezer is probably wrong just like everyone else. That's not a particular criticism of him; it still puts him in august company.
So my particular position is that I'm not giving to SIAI until I'm worth enough financially that I can ask a few hours of Eliezer's time, and get a better idea of whether the theories are correct.
What I don't like is the suggestion I get from your posts that somehow SIAI is the work of self-deluded charlatans. I know what charlatanism sounds like -- I've had dear friends get halo effects around their pet ideas. I know what it sounds like when someone is just trying to get me to support the team and is play...
So my particular position is that I'm not giving to SIAI until I'm worth enough financially that I can ask a few hours of Eliezer's time, and get a better idea of whether the theories are correct.
I don't think this matches up with your rejection. Even if you were an expert in the fields Eliezer is working in, it sounds like that wouldn't give you the ability to give any of his ideas a positive seal of approval, since many people worked on ideas for long times without seeing what was wrong with them. It also seems like a few hours to hash out disagreements is a very low estimate. How long do you think Eliezer and Robin Hanson have spent debating their theories, while becoming no closer to resolution?
The scenario you paint- that you get rich enough for Eliezer to wager a few hours of his time on reassuring you- does not sound like one designed to determine the correctness of the theories instead of giving you as much emotional satisfaction as possible.
I should make clear I do not mean to condemn, rather to provoke introspection; it is not clear to me there is a reason to support SIAI or other charities beyond emotional satisfaction, and so it may be wise to pursue opportunities like this without being explicit that's the compensation you expect from charities.
Donating to SIAI is pure display of tribal affiliation
That just isn't true. It is partially a display of tribal affiliation.
They have nothing to show for it, and there's not even any real reason to think this reduces rather than increasing existential risk.
Even if the SIAI outright increased existential risk that would not mean donations were purely displays of affiliation. It would mean that all those who donated partially for practical instrumental reasons were mistaken and making a poor choice. It would not make their act any more purely an affiliation symbol.
If I was to donate (more) to the SIAI it would be a mix of:
Why do we see this 'Time-Ask Effect'?
I think there is at least one possibility that I haven't yet seen mentioned here.
If I personally was given the choice between a charity asking for time, and a charity asking for money - I would consider the one asking for time to be more legitimate than the money-only charity.
So many people ask for your money these days and you basically don't know where it's all going.. whether it's effective or not. But if a charity is even set up such that it can take time-donations (even if i don't actually do it myself), then ...
The "Multiply your Impact" section seems like it was just slipped in. Optimal for what? "Human beings" is not specific. Is my charity budget better spent supporting institutions whose work I approve of, extending lifespans in Africa, or giving me a reputation as a generous spender among my friends? If the main reason to give is because it will make me happier, then isn't optimal philanthropy what makes me happiest, not what does the most good?
Lets say you had two choices about how to view the world:
And lets also assume that you value money. Which way of viewing the world is better? Well, I think its obvious that 2 is better because you get to feel good about yourself and keep your money. Shouldn't LWers therefore try as best they can to achieve this viewpoint? Isn't that a better way to go through life? Its certainly not impossible. I've done it. You can too!
Summary: The psychology of charitable giving offers three pieces of advice to those who want to give charity and those who want to receive it: Enjoy the happiness that giving brings, commit future income, and realize that requesting time increases the odds of getting money.
One Saturday morning in 2009, an unknown couple walked into a diner, ate their breakfast, and paid their tab. They also paid the tab for some strangers at another table.
And for the next five hours, dozens of customers got into the joy of giving and paid the favor forward.
This may sound like a movie, but it really happened.
But was it a fluke? Is the much-discussed link between happiness and charity real, or is it one of the 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology invented to sell books that compete with The Secret?
Several studies suggest that giving does bring happiness. One study found that asking people to commit random acts of kindness can increase their happiness for weeks.1 And at the neurological level, giving money to charity activates the reward centers of the brain, the same ones activated by everything from cocaine to great art to an attractive face.2
Another study randomly assigned participants to spend money either on themselves or on others. As predicted, those who spent money helping others were happier at the end of the day.3
Other studies confirm that just as giving brings happiness, happiness brings giving. A 1972 study showed that people are more likely to help others if they have recently been put in a good mood by receiving a cookie or finding a dime left in a payphone.4 People are also more likely to help after they read something pleasant,5 or when they are made to feel competent at something.6
In fact, deriving happiness from giving may be a human universal.7 Data from 136 countries shows that spending money to help others is correlated with happiness.8
But correlation does not imply causation. To test for causation, researchers randomly assigned participants from two very different cultures (Canada and Uganda) to write about a time when they had spent money on themselves (personal spending) or others (prosocial spending). Participants were asked to report the happiness levels before and after the writing exercise. As predicted, those who wrote (and thought) about a time when they had engaged in prosocial spending saw greater increases in happiness than those who wrote about a time when they spent money on themselves.
So does happiness run in a circular motion?
This, too, has been tested. In one study,9 researchers asked each subject to describe the last time they spent either $20 or $100 on themselves or on someone else. Next, researchers had each participant report their level of happiness, and then predict which future spending behavior ($5 or $20, on themselves or others) would make them happiest.
Subjects assigned to recall prosocial spending reported being happier than those assigned to recall personal spending. Moreover, this reported happiness predicted the future spending choice, but neither the purchase amount nor the purchasing target (oneself or others) did. So happiness and giving do seem to reinforce each other.
So, should charities remind people that donating will make them happy?
This, alas, has not been tested. But for now we might guess that just as people generally do things they believe will make them happier, they will probably give more if persuaded by the (ample) evidence that generosity brings happiness.
Lessons for optimal philanthropists: Read the studies showing that giving brings happiness. (Check the footnotes below.) Pick out an optimal charity in advance, notice when you're happy, and decide to give them money right then.
Lessons for optimal charities: Teach your donors how to be happy. Remind them that generosity begets happiness.
Precommitment
Ulysses did not get past the beautiful but dangerous Sirens with sheer willpower. Rather, he knew his weaknesses and precommitted to sail past the Sirens. He tied himself to his ship's mast.
We all know the power of precommitment. Though many gym memberships remain unused, people do spend more time at the gym if they purchase a gym membership than if they pay per visit.10 Can precommitment work for giving to charity, too?
Yes, it can. In one study, donors were asked to increase their monthly contributions either immediately or two months in the future. One year later, the increase in donations was 32% higher for the group asked to precommit, and donor cancellation rates were identical (and very low) in both groups.11
Does it matter whether a charitable person precommits to donate money they already have vs. money they don't have yet?
Apparently it does. In one experiment, participants were entered into a raffle, with a chance to win $25. Participants had to decide in advance whether to donate the money to United Way or receive it in cash. Nearly 40% of the participants opted to precommit the potential winnings to charity. In another experiment, researchers asked subjects to imagine they had just won the lottery. Then, some were asked to donate some of their 'winnings' immediately, while others were asked to donate their 'winnings' in two months. Surprisingly, those asked to donate current 'winnings' later actually gave less.12
This suggests that pledging to donate current earnings later may be less motivating than donating current earnings now, while pledging to donate future earnings later should work well. (Of course, money is fungible. The donated $100 might as well be from today's paycheck as from the next one. But charities should frame requests for precommitment in terms of future earnings, like Giving What We Can does.)
Precommitment seems to work best when it creates psychological distance between donors and their money.13 The United Way allows donors to give via paycheck donations; because donors never feel like they have that money, they never face the pain of parting with it.
The same principle may explain the success of affinity credit cards. Affinity cards allow consumers to precommit their reward points to benefit a chosen charity. Donors never experience the pain of parting with other things that reward points could otherwise purchase (flights, etc.). As an aspiring optimal philanthropist, I use an affinity card that gives 1%-10% cash back to the Singularity Institute (plus $50 per new card signup). As a lazy optimal philanthropist, I'm glad it took me only four minutes to sign up.
Lessons for optimal philanthropists: Precommit. Use paycheck deduction and affinity cards to give money. Pledge future earnings.
Lessons for optimal charities: Ask donors to precommit to donate future earnings. Offer an affinity card. Offer paycheck deduction donations if possible.
Time vs. Money
In one creative study, researchers asked subjects to read some information about a fictional non-profit, the "American Lung Cancer Association." Subjects were then told that this organization was holding a fundraising event. Half the subjects were asked how much time they would like to donate (a time-ask). The other subjects were not asked about volunteering their time. Next, both groups were asked how much money they would like to donate (a money-ask). Those who first got a time-ask gave more money when asked for money ($36.44 vs. $24.46). Asking donors for time resulted in them giving more money!
Researchers also conducted a field experiment by partnering with HopeLab, a Bay Area charity that aims to improve the quality of life for children with chronic illnesses. A researcher representing HopeLab visited college campuses and waited outside a classroom full of students. When the students emerged, the researcher asked them individually whether they were willing to take part in a 30-minute study in exchange for $10.
Those who agreed read an introduction to HopeLab. Then, a third of them were asked how much they would like to give time to HopeLab, another third were asked how much they would like to donate to HopeLab, and a control group was asked no questions. Finally, all groups were asked their impressions of HopeLab, along with 20 minutes of filler questions.
When exiting the study, participants encountered the researcher (representing HopeLab) next to a box labeled 'HopeLab Donations.' The researcher paid each participant with ten $1 bills and gave them a flyer with details about volunteering for HopeLab. Researchers tracked the amount donated and which participants volunteered during the next month.
Subjects in the time-ask-first condition were the most generous, donating $5.85 of their $10, compared to $4.42 for those in the no-ask condition and $3.07 for those in the money-ask-first condition. Subjects in the time-ask-first condition also volunteered the most (7% gave time, averaging 6.5 hours), compared to those in the money-ask-first condition and the no-ask condition (1.6% each).14
Why do we see this 'Time-Ask Effect'? Perhaps it is because thinking about spending time on something activates a mindset of emotional meaning and satisfaction, allowing a donor to connect emotionally with a charity, whereas thinking about spending money activates a purely instrumental mindset.15 Whatever the reason, asking for time before money may result in more of both.
Lessons for optimal philanthropists: Volunteer your time to an optimal charity. You may soon find yourself giving time and money.
Lessons for optimal charities: Ask supporters for time before you ask them for money.
Multiplying Your Impact
Optimal philanthropy is a new but obvious idea. Spreading the meme at this early stage is a fairly optimal act in itself.
Giving to optimal charities instead of average charities can multiply one person's impact 10, 100, or maybe 1000 times. Now multiply that change in impact by a hundred, thousand, or million people who have been persuaded by the simple math and equipped with the psychology of giving.16
That's a big impact.
So, contact me at OptimalPhilanthropy@gmail.com and precommit some of your time to working with a network of people to spread the meme of optimal philanthropy. :)
Or if you haven't got time for email, sign up for an affinity card.
The world thanks you.
Notes
1 Lyubomirsky et al. (2004).
2 Harbaugh et al. (2007).
3 Dunn et al. (2008).
4 Isen & Levin (1972).
5 Aderman (1972).
6 Harris & Huang (1973); Kazdin & Bryan (1971).
7 On human universals, see Norenzayan & Heine (2005).
8 Aknin et al. (2010).
9 Anik et al. (2010).
10 Della Vigna & Malmendier (2006); Gourville & Soman (1998).
11 Breman (2006).
12 Meyvis et al. (2010).
13 Meyvis et al. (2010). See the work on construal level theory: Trope & Liberman (2003); Liberman et al. (2007).
14 Liu & Aaker (2008).
15 Liu (2010).
16 For overviews, see Oppenheimer & Olivola (2010); Andreoni (2006); Bekkers & Wiepking (2007); Small & Simonsohn (2008); Reed et al. (2007).
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