Understanding barriers to effective altruism

Many individuals and organizations regularly donate money to charity. Worldwide, it is estimated that around one-third of people made at least one donation in 2020. In the United States alone, companies donated more than 16 billion dollars. Charitable giving generates a lot of money that is used to do a tremendous amount of good in the world. However, different programs vary a lot in how much good they do (how many lives are saved or how many illness are cured per dollar donated). This means that donors can dramatically increase the impact of their charitable giving by donating to the most cost-effective causes. This is the core idea behind effective altruism.

Most donors do not consider the potential impact of their donation when choosing between different charities. For example, many people donate to local charities even though donations usually have a much larger impact abroad. We use evolutionary theory to understand how the mismatch between the modern world we live in and the environment in which our prosociality evolved can lead to ineffective giving. For example, humans lived in small close-knit groups for much of their evolutionary past. We are predisposed to feel empathy and compassion for our relatives and those who live close to us, but not for people who live far away or those that are different to us. This could explain why many people believe that “charity begins at home”.

Our research focuses on understanding the psychology of altruism and effective philanthropy: How can we nudge people to donate to the most effective causes? How do consumers perceive companies that donate based on evidence and reason, rather than emotions? Which pieces of information do people rely on when choosing between different charities? Why do we care more about the welfare of some and not others?

Find out more

Jaeger, B., & van Vugt, M. (2021). Psychological barriers to effective altruism: An evolutionary perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology. Link