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This book uses recent research and empirical evidence to give quantifiable psychological explanations for why people donate vast amounts of money to charities with limited impact, known as ineffective giving. It unpacks the influence of misconceptions, cognitive biases, preferences for emotionally appealing but ineffective charities, and offers strategies for overcoming the obstacles that contribute to the problem.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part 1: Obstacles
- Chapter 1: The Norms of Giving
- Chapter 2: Neglecting the Stakes
- Chapter 3: Distant Causes and Nearsighted Feelings
- Chapter 4: Tough Prioritizing
- Chapter 5: Misconceptions About Effectiveness
- Part 2: Interventions
- Chapter 6: Information, Nudges, and Incentives
- Chapter 7: Finding the Enthusiasts
- Chapter 8: Fundamental Value Change
- Chapter 9: Effective Altruism for Mortals
About the author
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.
Summary
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.
Additional text
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.
