Soliciting Charity Contributions: The Parlance of Asking for Money1

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three verbally-mediated variables on financial contributions in a door-todoor charity campaign. The relationship of race to contributions was also observed by using both black and white subjects. One hundred and twenty black and 120 white subjects were randomly assigned to one of 8 verbal appeals in a 2 (High vs. Low Dependency) × 2 (Internal vs. External Causal Locus of Need) × 2 (“it is your social responsibility” vs. “it will make you feel good” Expressed Reason for Giving) factorial design. The solicitor controlled for order effects by varying the sequence of these three variables within each experimental group. Main effects were found for Rae, Causal Locus of Need, and Expressed Reason for Giving: Whites contributed more than blacks, the external locus of need condition produced more giving than the internal condition, and persons who heard the “feel good” reason donated more than those in the “social responsibility” condition. Additionally, a significant Causal Locus of Need × Expressed Reason for Giving interaction was found. The combination of external locus of need and “feel good” was considerably more productive of contributions than the other three combinations. Implications of these results for the helping behavior literature are discussed.     

中国无神论学会2003年学术年会征文通知

经中国无神论学会理事长办公会议研究决定,本学会2003年学术年会将于今年11月在北京召开,会议主题为“无神论教育与科教兴国”。会期预计两天,计划全部与会人数约40-50人。 为保证会议论文质量并积极吸收国内有志于无神论宣传、研究事业的新鲜力量参与学会活动,本     

Language as a Global Public Good

Language use is a public good. Those using a common language receive benefits that are non-excludable and non-rival. And as more people speak the same language, the greater these benefits are. Sometimes individuals make a conscious decision to learn a language other than their native language in order to receive these benefits, and thereby incur costs. This paper is an attempt to determine how we should share the costs among all beneficiaries. I argue against Van Parijs’s (Linguistic justice for Europe and for the world, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011a) proposal for this, and instead argue that an approach found in the work of Gauthier (Morals by agreement, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986) is preferable. A general lesson to be drawn from this paper is that the correct principle for distributing the costs of (global) public goods will depend on whether we think the good in question is required by justice or not. Where Van Parijs went wrong, I claim, was in thinking that a cross-border common language is required by justice.     

To Ask or Not to Ask: Enhancing Donations to Nonprofits by Soliciting Opinions Upfront,Rather than Donations

The success of non-profit organizations depends mainly on the strategies they use to recruit new donors. One common strategy is to solicit donations upfront (mostly online)—but is this indeed an effective approach? We conducted three experiments (N_total?=?1287), in which we compared an upfront appeal of that sort with one that offered prospective donors the opportunity to express their opinion about a given fundraising campaign—and then asked if they cared to donate to it. Drawing on foot-in-the-door and escalation of commitment theories, we found that soliciting an opinion (as opposed to a donation) led to greater engagement with the charity among prospective donors, as reflected by their greater willingness to read about the cause. This, in turn, encouraged them to donate. In experiment 1, we showed that the direct effect of request type on donations was mediated by the donors’ willingness to learn about the charity. In experiment 2, we showed that pairing an appeal for an opinion with a donation request was more effective than merely appealing for a donation. Finally, in experiment 3, we found that the more donors learn about a given cause, the stronger their emotional response to it, and the greater their donations to it. Further, we showed that soliciting an opinion (as opposed to a donation) made donors feel a greater connection with the organization. In sum, we propose a simple and cost-effective intervention that may help non-profit businesses become more effective.

     

中国无神论学会2003年学术年会征文通知

经中国无神论学会理事长办公会议研究决定,本学会2003年学术年会将于今年11月在北京召开,会议主题为“无神论教育与科教兴国”。会期预计两天,计划全部与会人数约40-50人。     

Advocacy,Political Participation,and Citizenship: Lutheran Contributions to Public Theology1

Abstract : Martin Luther never developed a political theory, but his theology does inform the way Christians live in society, making it both public and political. Luther's “two kingdom theory” often has been misinterpreted to justify passivity and obedience toward civil authorities. Under closer examination, however, his theology applies to the everyday practices of politics, economics, and religious affairs. In the context of nation‐building, a Lutheran theology fosters citizenship not only as individual rights and responsibilities, but as active participation in civil society.     

公共物品两难中相互依赖关系对合作行为的影响

本文关注初始关系建立过程中互动双方相互依赖关系对个体合作行为的影响,认为情境中表征个体间相互依赖关系的线索会对激活被试在情境中的社会动机并影响被试的信任信念,进而影响互动双方的合作行为。操作互动双方问基于互动制约的相互依赖和基于利益共同的相互依赖,模拟高相互依赖和低相互依赖关系情境。结果表明：①不同的相互依赖关系能够激活不同的社会动机和信任信念;②不同的相互依赖关系中,被试的合作行为有显著差异;③在特定的相互依赖关系中,被试的合作行为与其本身的信任倾向无显著相关;④特定相互依赖关系下被试的社会动机带有策略性,信任信念对被试合作行为的预测能力较强。     

The Impact of Procedural Justice on Opinions of Public Policy: Solid Waste Management as an Example1

This study assessed the applicability of Tyler and Lind's (1992) relational model of authority to the context of local government policies on solid waste management. Tests of the hypothesized relations proposed by Tyler and Lind, accomplished through structural equation modeling, revealed that our data supported the relations between the various constructs of the model. Perceptions of both process control and relational process were found to be positively related to procedural fairness judgments, while procedural fairness judgments were weakly related to evaluations of government entities. Contrary to our expectations, a similar structural equation model test of an extension of the Tyler and Lind model showed that the model constructs were unrelated to respondents' opinions of public policies. The results also indicated that respondents living in communities with different infrastructures and political climates differed slightly in their perceptions of procedural justice and related constructs, but did not differ in their endorsement of the various solid waste management policies.     

A Probabilistic Model of Criticality in a Sequential Public Good Dilemma

A public good (PG) is a commodity or service made available to all members of a group: its provision depends on the voluntary contribution of its members. Once provided, all members can enjoy the benefits of the PG, regardless of whether they contributed or not; hence, there is a temptation to “free-ride” in the hope that others will contribute. Rapoport (1987) showed that an important factor that affects cooperation (contribution) in a PG dilemma is the extent to which a group member is critical in providing it. Erev and Rapoport (1990) tested a game-theoretic model that yields deterministic predictions about the effects of criticality on cooperation in public good dilemmas. Based on research by Chen, Au, and Komorita (1996), we propose a probabilistic model of criticality. The model is tested and found to fit empirical data. Extensions of the model to situations with uncertain group size or provision point are discussed.     

Good News-Bad News: Affective and Interpersonal Effects1

News broadcasts conveying “good news” or “bad news” were played to subjects who subsequently made evaluative responses of anonymous others. The news broadcasts were shown to differentially elicit positive and negative affective responses and to affect subjects' evaluations of others. Additionally, reported affect was shown to be positively related to those interpersonal evaluations.     

Richard Rogers: Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy

Presents Richard Rogers as the 2001 winner of the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy. "Richard Rogers casts a long shadow over the realm of psychological research with public policy implications. His achievements concerning criminal responsibility and malingering have been important and lasting, but his most uniquely impactful contribution to public policy is his enhancement of our understanding of the constitutional protections embodied in Miranda rights. His investigations have exploded the myth of a single, easily understood Miranda warning. The ramifications of this work are profound, especially for socially marginalized populations, and include its direct acknowledgment as the impetus for critical developments in American Bar Association policy on custodial interrogations." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).