Philanthropy & Empathy

In episode 39 we look at the relationship between philanthropy and empathy. Including:

-What does neuroscience tell us about the link between empathy and altruism?

-The importance of physical proximity

-Does empathy lead us to prioritise giving to those who are sufficiently “like us”, at the expense of others?

-How do our unconscious biases affect our empathy? The identifiable victim bias and victim blaming.

-Is empathy in tension with rationality when it comes to philanthropy?

-Historical examples of approaches to philanthropy that lacked empathy: home visitations, voting charities and “telescopic philanthropy”

-Rationality vs empathy throughout history: from the Charity Organization Societies to Effective Altruism?

-What impact will technology have on our ability to be empathetic in future?

-How can Virtual Reality be used to drive empathetic responses from donors and supporters?

-Will tech-enabled ‘filter bubbles’ negatively affect our ability to empathise?

-Rationality vs Empathy 2.0? Will philanthropy in the future be shaped by VR and experiential technologies, or by AI and data-driven decision making?

 

Related Content

Zagefka et al (2010) “Donating to disaster victims: Responses to natural and humanly caused events”, European Journal of Social Psychology, Volume41, Issue 3, April 2011, 353-363 Decety (2015) “The Neural Pathways, Development and Functions of Empathy”, Science of Philanthropy Initiative Kraus et al (2012) Social Class, Solipsism, and Contextualism: How the Rich Are Different From the Poor, Psychological Review, 119 (3) 546-572. Gose & Gipple (2012) “Rich Enclaves Are Not as Generous as the Wealthy Living Elsewhere” Chronicle of Philanthropy “Virtual reality can boost empathy”, Psychology News, 17th October 2018 Giving Thought blog (2016) “3 ways augmented and virtual reality could change charity” Giving Thought blog (2016) “Is technology making us care less about each other?” Giving Thought blog (2017) “Future Imperfect: 10 new problems technology will create for charities” Giving Thought blog (2017) “Automatic for the people: What might a philanthropy algorithm look like?” Ken Liu, "Byzantine Empathy"- short story reproduced in Breaker Mag