Research Summary
Research Summary
Wealth & Giving
Description
While investigating the benefits of prosocial behavior, Professor Whillans came across a puzzling finding: the more money that people make, the less they donate to charity, proportionately speaking. Given that prosocial behavior can provide a key lever for improving health and happiness, she sought to uncover psychological factors that can encourage charitable giving, particularly among those with the greatest capacity to give. Professor Whillans has conducted studies that show when appeals emphasize agency (the pursuit of personal goals) as compared to communion (the pursuit of shared goals), wealthier individuals donate more money to charity. Thus, tailored messages can encourage the wealthiest people in society to spend their money in more generous, and potentially more emotionally satisfying, ways. Building on her past research, Professor Whillans is currently examining other theoretically grounded methods of promoting and sustaining financial generosity. She is also conducting several large scale trials examining the benefit of sport and education programming on youth development and charitable giving intentions and behavior in collaboration with CHIMP (Charitable Impact Foundation).
