{"668220":{"#nid":"668220","#data":{"type":"news","title":"In the Mood for Giving: Charitable Donations May Be More About How You Feel Before Giving, Not After","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EConventional wisdom suggests that we give to charity at least partly because of post-donation warm and fuzzies that make us feel great inside. Turns out, it might be the other way around.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EGeorgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/econ.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor Casey Wichman and a colleague from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have found evidence from social media posts that a good mood reliably predicts a charitable donation. The \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/ej\/advance-article\/doi\/10.1093\/ej\/uead041\/7191248\u0022\u003Efindings\u003C\/a\u003E, recently published in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EThe Economic Journal,\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;question common beliefs about why we give of our time and money and may have practical implications for the causes that seek to benefit from our generosity.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThe findings are interesting simply because I think many of us believe one reason we give to charity is because of how it makes us feel,\u201d \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/casey-wichman\u0022\u003EWichman\u003C\/a\u003E said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a practical side of this, as well, and that has to do with how non-profit fundraisers might want to think about shifting tactics to improve the moods of would-be donors before soliciting donations.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe concept Wichman and his UMass colleague, Nathan Chan, explored is called \u201cpreheating,\u201d a riff on the \u201cwarm glow\u201d often associated with post-donation moods. While psychologists are familiar with this idea, the study by Wichman and Chan may be the first to identify the effect outside of a controlled lab setting.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFor their study, Chan and Wichman turned to Twitter. The researchers first grabbed batches of tweets from about 20,000 people who donated to Wikipedia. To mark the moment the donation occurred, they used #ILoveWikipedia tweets the non-profit encyclopedia prompts users to post after contributing.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe researchers then used natural language processing tools to analyze the sentiment of tweets those users sent before and after they made their donation. The authors detected a reliable and statistically significant mood boost in tweets sent up to about an hour before donating to Wikipedia, according to Wichman. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EHow much of a boost? The \u201cpreheating\u201d associated with donating roughly equaled the joy you might feel on discovering a $20 bill crumpled up in the pocket of an old coat, Wichman said. That\u2019s based on earlier economics research assigning monetary values to varying degrees of mood changes.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe buoyant mood seemed to last for about 30 minutes after the donation before returning to baseline levels, according to the researchers.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe analysis by Wichman and Chan didn\u2019t capture what the donors were so happy about before their donation. They also don\u2019t know how much money the ebullient Twitter users donated to Wikipedia or how much they might have given in a less giddy mood.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe pair did, however, carry out an experiment that offers some insights. They asked volunteers online to decide how to split $50 between themselves and a charity. But first, the would-be philanthropists had to watch either the cheerful \u201cHakuna Matata\u201d scene from Disney\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EThe Lion King\u003C\/em\u003E or a neutral clip about microbes.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe researchers found that those who watched the relentlessly optimistic singing warthog and meerkat duo donated 7% more to charity and were more likely to give away the entire amount than those who watched the microbe video. The results, while less conclusive due to a smaller sample size, support the paper\u2019s overall finding that mood influences giving more than many researchers have given it credit for, Wichman said.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EConsequently, the idea of \u201cpreheating\u201d potential donors with feel-good content or hitting them up with solicitations after they post positive messages online could be a winner for non-profits looking to maximize givers, the researchers say.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cIf you can find moments when people are happy, that might be a good time to be targeting them for charitable contributions,\u201d Chan said.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe paper, \u201cPreheating Social Behavior,\u201d was first published online June 6, 2023, in \u003Cem\u003EThe Economic Journal\u003C\/em\u003E. It is available at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/ej\/uead041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/ej\/uead041\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe School of Economics is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETwitter posts and an online experiment involving the cheery \u201cHakuna Matata\u201d scene from The Lion King offer new insights into why we give to charity.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Twitter posts and an online experiment involving the cheery \u201cHakuna Matata\u201d scene from The Lion King offer new insights into why we give to charity."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2023-06-26 12:12:17","changed_gmt":"2023-06-27 18:34:25","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671031":{"id":"671031","type":"image","title":"School of Economics Assistant Professor Casey Wichman and a co-author studied the impact of mood on giving.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Economics Assistant Professor Casey Wichman and a co-author at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studied the impact of mood on giving.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1687782284","gmt_created":"2023-06-26 12:24:44","changed":"1687782284","gmt_changed":"2023-06-26 12:24:44","alt":"Photo illustration of a man standing with his arms folded against a backdrop of money and the words \u0027Does Mood Affect Giving?\u0027","file":{"fid":"254021","name":"wichman money buzz text.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/26\/wichman%20money%20buzz%20text.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/26\/wichman%20money%20buzz%20text.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":338505,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/06\/26\/wichman%20money%20buzz%20text.jpg?itok=YJvsj7PG"}}},"media_ids":["671031"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1282","name":"School of Economics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"2095","name":"charity"},{"id":"2284","name":"Giving"},{"id":"78981","name":"mood"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}