If a baseball and a bat cost $1.10 together, and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?
Solution
5 cents. System 1 thinking often leads to mistakes in this type of problem.
A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the dad. The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate—that boy is my son!” How is that possible?
Solution
The surgeon is the boy’s mother. This puzzle illustrates the persistence of gender discrimination.
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
Solution
47 days. To answer correctly, you need to ignore your system 1 and use your system 2.
Alan is smart, hard-working, impulsive, stubborn and jealous.
Ben is jealous, stubborn, impulsive, hard-working and smart.
Who should you hire?
Solution
They are the same, but a priming effect often make people prefer the first candidate.
08-12-2020
December is perhaps the busiest time of year for non-profits, as it is the ‘giving season’. This is the month when most charitable donations are made and when solicitations need to be at their most effective.
Most of us are simultaneously shopping for Christmas and making quick decisions about which causes to support. So it’s not surprising that charitable giving is among the most spontaneous, emotional and irrational of activities. Consider these examples of typical unpredictability when it comes to giving:
These figures show a large gap between intent and action – and a major opportunity for non-profits to gather more financial support. They also suggest that charitable giving is fertile ground for applying behavioral science to ‘nudge’ changes in donors’ choices and their levels of giving.
Fortunately, a great deal of excellent work has been done, by academic researchers and organizations such as ideas42, to test and document “what works” in this sector. Here are several themes that emerge:
1) The Power of Social Norms
In charitable giving, we rely heavily on the social cues of others. Thus, solicitations that make references to other givers (number of other givers, their average donation, etc.) are typically more effective. For example, when a radio station changed their script to reference another member’s contribution level, average donation amounts increased by 12%.
2) The Impact of Framing
Behavioral Science teaches us that how you ask a question and how choices are presented (‘choice architecture’) have a significant impact on people’s decisions. In soliciting donations, the most basic principle is to frame the question in terms of how much to donate, rather than whether or not to give. For example, a recent study revealed that people given eight donation options (including £0) were 41.4% more likely to make a donation than those given a binary yes/no choice.
3) The Importance of Agency
We also know that people are more likely to give more, if they perceive some sense of control (agency) to express their preferences. For example, a university recently found that when donors were given the option to direct all or some of their gift to support specific programmes, their average gift was over $80 higher than those who lacked this option. Interestingly, this was the case even among people who chose not to direct their gifts.
4) Make It Easy!
Finally, and most importantly, it’s important to take the #1 mantra of behavioral science to heart. We’ve repeatedly seen that even small hassles or points of confusion can create friction that stops people from giving. Therefore, charities are well-advised to focus on keeping it simple: providing important reassurances (about the use of personal information, for example) – and avoiding unnecessary steps or complications. In fact, one effective way of making it easy is to highlight a default option (a suggested giving amount), ideally supported by the social norms cited above (i.e. “Most donors gave this much…”)
As non-profits head into the holidays, we hope that they will apply these behavioral science insights to make their solicitations more effective – and to help all of us become more generous givers.
Have you optimized your Gift Aid opportunity? Find out more about increasing your organization’s Gift Aid revenue with our sister agency, BVA BDRC.
Enjoy the festive season!