Victim Number Effects in Charitable Giving: Joint Evaluations Promote Egalitarian Decisions.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Social Psychology
• Decision Making

Background:

• Research consistently shows individuals donate more to single victims than to multiple victims, a phenomenon linked to 'compassion fade'.
• This effect is typically observed when charitable appeals are evaluated separately.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the number of victims influences charitable giving when multiple appeals are presented jointly.
• To determine if the 'compassion fade' effect extends to situations with simultaneous evaluations of varying group sizes.

Main Methods:

• Three online experiments involving 1,348 participants were conducted.
• Bayesian estimation was used to analyze donation data across different group sizes (1, 2, 5, 7, 12).
• Appeals were presented in ascending and random orders, with and without an initial overview.

Main Results:

• Contrary to prior research, participants donated more to larger groups in a joint evaluation context.
• This pattern persisted regardless of appeal order (ascending vs. random) or the presence of an initial overview.
• Donations increased with group size even when a single individual was added to the array.

Conclusions:

• The 'compassion fade' effect observed in separate evaluations does not necessarily generalize to joint evaluation contexts.
• Simultaneous exposure to multiple charitable appeals can lead to increased donations to larger groups.
• Understanding these contextual factors is crucial for effective charitable giving strategies.