Increased Generosity Under COVID-19 Threat

In the face of crises – wars, pandemics, and natural disasters – both increased selfishness and increased generosity may emerge. In this paper, we study the relationship between the presence of COVID-19 threat and generosity using a four-year longitudinal dataset (N = 696,942) capturing real donations made before and during the pandemic, as well as six-months dictator game allocations (N = 1,003 participants) made during the early months of the pandemic. Consistent with the notion of “catastrophe compassion” (Zaki 2020), and contrary to prior research showing a tendency toward self-interested behavior under threat, individuals across both datasets exhibited greater financial generosity when their county experienced COVID-19 threat. While we find that the presence of threat impacted individual giving, behavior was not sensitive to threat level. Our findings have significant societal implications and advance our understanding of economic and psychological theories of social preferences under threat.

Managing Members, Donors, and Member-Donors for Effective Nonprofit Fundraising

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play a central role in many economies in the form of private entities serving a public purpose. Strengthening the fundraising capabilities of NPOs can have a large impact on their survival and effective functioning. NPOs typically elicit financial contributions through multiple forms of giving, such as donation and membership. These options enable individuals to express their altruism by giving in one or multiple forms. The authors develop a utility-based multiple discrete-continuous model that provides insights into potentially large differences in individuals’ giving behaviors. Through Bayesian Gaussian processes, the model also incorporates changes in givers’ preferences for forms of giving. The authors apply their model to five years of individual giving data. They find that the effects of lifetime, recency, seasonality, and appeals on donation and membership options change nonmonotonically over time and in distinctive ways. The authors demonstrate that the model estimates help predict who will give in more than one form in the future as well as build appeal targeting strategies. The model also shows that fundraising attempts should emphasize participation rather than amount, and that long-lapsed members are still worth pursuing for renewal, whereas long-lapsed donors are less productive for repeat giving.

A Study of Oddity in a Russian Clinical Sample

Background. At the beginning of 20th century, the phenomenon of oddity began to be studied. It was de!ned as a set of characteristics responsible for an individual giving the impression of being unusual, odd, and peculiar. Later, psychiatrists integrated oddity into the concept of schizotypy. Yet, while considered a part of the schizotypy construct, oddity has remained singular and maintained its status as an independent dimension. Objective. "e present article discusses oddity as a set of particular clinical traits that can be evaluated both by self-report measures and clinical assessment. We set out to investigate the oddity phenomena as manifested in a clinical sample, in order to delineate key features that constitute this concept. Design. Seventy-one patients were selected according to a speci!c set of criteria and subjected to a set of self-report measures (the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and the Adult Personality Traits Questionnaire), a clinical interview, and a pathopsychological experiment. A number of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional characteristics were analyzed. An intra-group comparison was carried out in order to clarify the potential di#erences between the self-reported and clinically assessed phenomenon of oddity. Results. "e study’s !rst !nding was that the SPQ-74 does not identify odd personalities in the general population, as re$ected in the fact that the sample’s average scores proved to be low. Secondly, restricted emotionality and a de!cit in social interactions proved to be the prevalent characteristics of the sample of “odd” individuals. Furthermore, a set of certain speech peculiarities (word coinage, bizarrerie, etc.) and thinking impairments of various types (distortion of abstraction level and motivational de!cit) emerged as prominent characteristics in the majority of subjects. Finally, it was determined that clinical assessment allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of the psychology of odd personalities than self-report measures, due to a number of the personality, temperamental, and cognitive characteristics that the latter tend to exhibit. Conclusion. “Odd” individuals can be characterized by a number of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral features independent of social perception and relevant to clinical practice; they can be captured more successfully by the application of qualitative methods. Further research is needed to elaborate this set of traits and test this hypothesis on new samples.

Understanding the liminality of individual giving to the arts

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of donors to a UK-based contemporary music organisation fundraising scheme through the theoretical lens of liminality.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews with 16 members of the Sound Investment scheme investigated the motivations and experiences of individual donors to the commissioning of new music. Thematic analysis suggested parallels with the framework of “liminality,” which shed new light on the ways in which membership changed donors' relationships with the organisation and audience.FindingsMotivations for supporting contemporary music commissioning included personal interest, cultural responsibility and alignment to the values of the organisation. Tangible benefits, particularly access to rehearsals, brought donors into closer connection with the creative and managerial working of the organisation.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample did not include any lapsed donors, or people who had chosen not to participate. Future research could test the liminal framework in different artforms and through different tangible benefits.Practical implicationsUnderstanding donors as liminals could help arts organisations to develop membership schemes that more effectively sustain individual giving. Key elements of involvement and access are identified that could engage audiences more widely.Originality/valueThis case study foregrounds lived experience of arts donors where previous literature has primarily focussed on motivations for donating. It highlights the liminal elements of becoming an individual donor, namely, the integration and socialisation processes, the space-and time-bound interactions with the organisation and the alignment of values with the organisation. This framework offers a new way for arts organisations to understand and enhance individual giving in a time of austerity.

Inagaki (in press). Neural mechanisms of the link between giving social support and health. Ann NY Acad Sci

Giving social support to others has emerged as an additional route by which social ties influence health. Thus, giving support to others not only influences the health of the individual receiving support, but also the health of the individual giving the support. However, the neural mechanisms by which giving support leads to health are only beginning to be explored. In hopes of consolidating and guiding future research on giving support and health, the current review considers why, how, and when giving support is health-promoting. Special emphasis is placed on neural regions known to contribute to parental care in animals that both reinforce giving support behavior (ventral striatum (VS) and septal area (SA)) and reduce stress-related responding (e.g., amygdala) to facilitate care. Hypothesized links between neural regions involved in giving support and peripheral physiology (sympathetic nervous system (SNS), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and related inflammatory responding) are considered as well as the conditions under which giving support should be most beneficial for health. Finally, the implications of the current perspective for understanding how social relationships, more broadly, contribute to health and suggestions for future directions are offered.

8. Molecular forensics

A key challenge for molecular biology is to use research outcomes to meet the demands of modern society. ‘Molecular forensics’ shows that molecular markers are having a substantial impact; from bench to boardroom or even courtroom. DNA profiling plays a role in helping to solve crimes and miscarriages of justice. Although 99.5 per cent of the human DNA sequence is the same for everyone, there are small regions of variability that are specific to each individual giving each person a unique DNA profile, or fingerprint. DNA profile applications are increasing and are now used to identify food counterfeits and contamination of food; to tackle pandemics and epidemics; and in biosecurity measures.