• About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
Center for Public Interest Communications
Support
  • About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
  • Research & Insights

Thinking About Morality Encourages Charitable Actions

  • December 23, 2015
  • 2 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0

In an increasingly busy world, nonprofits often have the difficult task of convincing volunteers to donate their time. New research suggests that one potential strategy for fighting the time-crunch involves getting people to think about how their actions reflect what kind of a person they are morally.

These findings come from a study published in the November 2015 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Americus Reed II and his colleagues. The experiments suggest that encouraging people to reflect on what giving or volunteering their time says about their personal moral identity – how much a person feels like he or she is moral, kind, or compassionate – can get them to step up and volunteer.

For instance, one experiment began by asking participants to copy down nine words and write a story about themselves using each of the words. Some participants received a list of words that were loaded with moral meaning, such as “caring” and “generous.” Other participants received words that were relatively free of moral connotations, such as “favorable” and “polite.”

The participants were then asked to respond to a series of questions regarding their willingness to help with one of two causes – a campaign to raise awareness of the “need for college students to get involved early in volunteer activities,” such as promoting human rights, or a marketing campaign for companies. Participants were asked how much they felt that volunteering would make them feel connected and happy. For instance, participants were asked whether or not they agreed that helping with the campaign would “reflect…the type of person that I am” or “make…me feel emotionally tied to the people who will benefit” from the campaign.

Finally, participants were asked how likely they would be to either donate $5 (of the $10 of compensation they received for the study) to the campaign, donate $5 worth of their time to the campaign, or do nothing.

The researchers found that participants who were primed to think of themselves in a moral sense were more likely to volunteer their time than the participants who were primed in a neutral way, but only for the awareness campaign and not for the marketing campaign.

“[P]eople are less [averse to giving time to a cause] when presented with an opportunity to give time to a moral cause, especially when their morality identity is activated,” the researchers explain. Indeed, further experiments suggest that people perceive unpleasant volunteering tasks (like emptying bedpans for hospital patients) as less unpleasant when primed with a moral cues, and feel more connected to the people they are helping.

Overall, encouraging people to think about their moral identity “reduces the likelihood that people will prefer to give money over time,” the researchers explain.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Researchers:
Americus Reed II, University of Pennsylvania
Adam Kay and Karl Aquino, University of British Columbia
Stephanie Finnel, BAYADA Home Health Care, Philadelphia, PA
Eric Levy, Cambridge University

0
0
0
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • frankology
Previous Article
  • Research & Insights

A Winning Combination for Anti-Smoking Cigarette Labels

  • December 21, 2015
View Post
Next Article
  • Research & Insights

Using Social Media Can Help Reach Vulnerable Communities

  • December 28, 2015
View Post
Think we can help with your goals? Read about our services and how we work.
Or reach out today to tell us a bit about your project and inquire how we might help.

 
 

Join our network

We'll send insights and opportunities when you least expect

More of our work
  • Why each side of the partisan divide thinks the other is living in an alternate reality
  • The Science of Belief: Identify Perceptions of Harm
  • The Secret to Better Storytelling for Social Change: Better Partnerships
  • BROKE project screenshot
    Re-examining narratives on poverty and wealth — the BROKE project
Latest from the Center
  • Teresa Gonzales and Nicole Bronzan
    Paper exploring local discursive frames of poverty and race wins 2023 research prize
  • Center welcomes two collaborators in research and strategy
  • 2023 Research Prize Finalists
    Center announces three finalists for the $10,000 public interest communications research prize
  • Rakeem Robinson
    Center honors the memory of colleague Rakeem Robinson
How We Help – Case Studies
  • gloved hand holding vial
    Science-based communication strategy on COVID for the UN Verified Initiative
  • Strategic Communications Academy for University of Florida Engineering Scholars
  • hands with medicine
    Invest in Trust – a vaccine communications guide for CNAs

Subscribe

Keep up with our latest; request our periodic newsletter.

UF Logo

Center for Public Interest Communications
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400

An auxiliary unit of the College of Journalism and Communications

Copyright © 2022

Contact Us

We are eager to chat with you about your project or training need.

Send us a note

The Center for Public Interest Communications, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to study, test and apply the science of strategic communication for social change. We are based at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

  • Social Change Communication
  • Science Communication
  • Strategic Communication
  • Broader Impacts
  • Public Interest Communication
  • Narrative Change
  • Leadership Development
  • Strategy Development
  • Effective Presentations
  • Research Translation & Insights

Input your search keywords and press Enter.