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Charitable Giving, Emotions, And The Default Effect

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  • Lenka Fiala
  • Charles N. Noussair

Abstract

We report an experiment to study the effect of defaults on charitable giving. In three different treatments, participants face varying default levels of donation. In three other treatments that are paired with the first three, they receive the same defaults, but are informed that defaults are thought to have an effect on their donation decisions. The emotional state of all individuals is monitored throughout the sessions using Facereading software, and some participants are required to report their emotional state after the donation decision. We find that the default level has no effect on donations, and informing individuals of the possible impact of defaults also has no effect. The decision to donate is independent of prior emotional state, unless specific subgroups of participants are considered. Donors experience a negative change in the valence of their emotional state subsequent to donating, when valence is measured with Facereading software. This contrasts with the selfreport data, in which donating correlates with a more positive reported subsequent emotional state.
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Suggested Citation

  • Lenka Fiala & Charles N. Noussair, 2017. "Charitable Giving, Emotions, And The Default Effect," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1792-1812, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:55:y:2017:i:4:p:1792-1812
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    Cited by:

    1. Breaban, Adriana & van de Kuilen, Gijs & Noussair, Charles, 2016. "Prudence, Personality, Cognitive Ability and Emotional State," Other publications TiSEM 9a01a5ab-e03d-49eb-9cd7-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Butz, Britta & Harbring, Christine, 2020. "Donations as an incentive for cooperation in public good games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Crow, Kellie & Mathmann, Frank & Greer, Dominique, 2019. "Got a dollar? Locomotion orientation decreases the effect of defaults on charitable giving," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-6.
    4. Noussair, Charles N. & Tucker, Steven & Xu, Yilong & Breaban, Adriana, 2024. "The role of emotions in public goods games with and without punishment opportunities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 631-646.
    5. David Bilén & Anna Dreber & Magnus Johannesson, 2021. "Are women more generous than men? A meta-analysis," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Minnich, Aljoscha, 2022. "Do fans’ emotions influence charitable donations? Evidence from monetary and returnable cup donations in German soccer stadiums," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Breaban, Adriana & Van De Kuilen, Gijs & Noussair, Charles N., 2016. "Prudence, emotional state, personality, and cognitive ability," Other publications TiSEM 0ac205ac-aee3-4df2-82ee-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Gagnon, Nickolas & Noussair, C., 2016. "Does Reciprocity Persist Over Time?," Research Memorandum 033, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    9. Landmann, Elisa, 2023. "I can see how you feel—Methodological considerations and handling of Noldus's FaceReader software for emotion measurement," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Yueqiao Qiao & Zhe Zhang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Their Pain, Our Pleasure: How and When Peer Abusive Supervision Leads to Third Parties’ Schadenfreude and Work Engagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 695-711, April.
    11. Schulz, Jonathan F. & Thiemann, Petra & Thöni, Christian, 2018. "Nudging generosity: Choice architecture and cognitive factors in charitable giving," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 139-145.
    12. Briscese, Guglielmo, 2019. "Generous by default: A field experiment on designing defaults that align with past behaviour on charitable giving," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Mol, Jantsje M., 2019. "Goggles in the lab: Economic experiments in immersive virtual environments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 155-164.
    14. Eckel, Catherine & Guney, Begum & Uler, Neslihan, 2020. "Independent vs. Coordinated Fundraising: Understanding the Role of Information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    15. Yilong Xu & Mikolaj Czajkowski & Nick Hanley & Leonhard Lades & Charles N. Noussair & Steven Tucker, 2024. "The Effects of Emotions on Stated Preferences for Environmental Change: a re-examination," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Waikato.
    16. Claudia Keser & Maximilian Späth, 2021. "Charitable Giving: Framing and the Role of Information," CIRANO Working Papers 2021s-23, CIRANO.
    17. Keser, Claudia & Späth, Maximilian, 2021. "Charitable giving: Framing and the role of information," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 424, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

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    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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