Get Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving
Jacob Goldstein, with Dr. Laurie Santos, Elie Hassenfeld, Nate Silver, and Maria Konnikova, explores charitable giving. They discuss why giving boosts happiness, psychological barriers, and how to find high-impact charities like GiveWell's top picks, emphasizing evidence-based philanthropy.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Introduction to Giving Tuesday and the Psychology of Giving
Why We Mispredict Happiness from Giving to Others
Academic Research on Giving and Happiness
The Role of Friction and Overthinking in Charitable Giving
The Happiness Lab's Giving Multiplier Project and GiveDirectly
Founding GiveWell and the Need for Impact Measurement
GiveWell's Top Charities and Focus on Global Health
The Evolution of Impact Measurement in Philanthropy
Understanding the Global Disparity in Cost-Effectiveness of Aid
Surprising Learnings from 15 Years at GiveWell
Applying a Poker Mindset to Charitable Giving: Expected Value
Poker Personalities: Nits vs. Degens and Generosity
Personal Motivations and Role Models in Charitable Giving
The Poker Community's Philanthropic Efforts
Host's Reflection and Commitment to Giving
7 Key Concepts
Misprediction of Happiness
People consistently underestimate the happiness they will experience from spending money on others compared to spending it on themselves. This psychological bias leads individuals to miss opportunities for personal well-being and doing good in the world.
Friction in Giving
This refers to the mental and logistical barriers that prevent people from performing acts of kindness or charitable giving. Overthinking the 'right' way to give, uncertainty about effective charities, or the effort involved can deter individuals from acting on their pro-social impulses.
Overhead Ratio
A traditional metric used by charities, it measures the percentage of donations spent on administration versus direct program costs. GiveWell found this ratio to be an insufficient indicator of a charity's actual impact, as it doesn't reflect the outcomes achieved by the programs themselves.
Outcome Measurement in Charity
This approach focuses on quantifying the actual impact of a charitable program, such as lives saved, incomes increased, or diseases prevented. It contrasts with simply measuring inputs (like money spent) or activities (like schools built), aiming to provide robust evidence of effectiveness.
Expected Value
In decision-making, expected value is the net benefit one anticipates receiving, averaged over all possible uncertain outcomes. When applied to charitable giving, it involves quantifying not just monetary returns but also psychological factors like how good one feels after a decision.
Nit (Poker Term)
A 'nit' in poker culture describes a neurotic, risk-averse, and often cheap individual who is too conservative for their own good. They tend to avoid taking 'plus EV' (positive expected value) bets and can be overly concerned with small financial details.
Degen (Poker Term)
A 'degen' (short for degenerate gambler, used affectionately) is a poker player who is risk-tolerant, likes to gamble, and is often freewheeling with money. They are typically more generous than 'nits' in their spending and giving habits.
9 Questions Answered
Yes, research consistently shows that spending money on others tends to make people happier than spending it on themselves, even if people often predict the opposite.
People often overthink the act of giving, focusing on their own competence or potential awkwardness, while recipients simply experience surprise and positive feelings. This disconnect leads givers to misjudge the positive emotional impact on themselves.
Friction, or the effort and uncertainty involved in giving, can be a significant barrier. This includes overthinking how to give, what to give, or which charity to choose, making people less likely to act on their desire to help.
GiveWell's top charities include the Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium (for seasonal malaria chemo prevention), Helen Keller International (for vitamin A supplementation), and New Incentives (for conditional cash transfers to encourage immunization).
GiveWell found that the opportunities to have a large impact with money are significantly greater overseas. For example, averting the death of a young child in a low-income country costs roughly the same as putting a child through school for a couple of years in a New York City charter school.
When GiveWell started, charities were often surprised by questions about their programs' outcomes. Now, with organizations like GiveWell directing significant funding, there's a growing incentive for charities to demonstrate their impact through data and evidence.
One reason is that the suffering and poverty in the poorest parts of the world are largely invisible in day-to-day life, and daily catastrophes like child deaths from preventable diseases are not widely covered, reducing the motivating force to act.
Professional poker players, who apply an 'expected value' framework to decisions, consider the net benefit averaged over uncertain outcomes. While some prioritize causes they feel a personal connection to, the poker community also engages in significant charitable giving.
Degens, who are risk-tolerant and freewheeling with money, are generally more generous than nits, who are neurotic, risk-averse, and conservative.
15 Actionable Insights
1. Give for Personal Happiness
Spend money on a good charity instead of on yourself, as research shows this makes givers feel happier than they expect. This also creates a “win-win” by increasing happiness for both the giver and the recipient.
2. Prioritize Global Health Impact
Focus charitable giving on global health programs in low-income countries, as they offer significantly higher impact per dollar (e.g., saving a child’s life for $5,000) compared to many domestic programs.
3. Reduce Giving Friction
Actively reduce the effort required for acts of kindness and charitable giving, such as using organized meal trains or platforms like givingmultiplier.org/happinesslab, to overcome barriers and make generosity easier.
4. Cultivate Kindness Habit
Practice doing nice things regularly to make generosity a habit, which will reduce friction over time and make it easier to consistently engage in pro-social behavior.
5. Seek Visible Giving Impact
When donating to charity, choose organizations or methods that allow you to see the impact of your contribution, as this can boost your own happiness and sense of fulfillment.
6. Don’t Overthink Kindness
Avoid overthinking acts of kindness or compliments; recipients typically appreciate the gesture far more than givers anticipate, leading to unexpected positive reactions.
7. Give More Compliments
Actively express compliments you think in your head, as they are usually well-received and make people’s day, releasing a lot of positivity that often remains unsaid.
8. Ask for Desired Gifts
When giving gifts, ask recipients directly what they want, as this is the most effective way to ensure they receive a desired item and maximize their happiness.
9. Adopt Metrics-Driven Giving
Approach charitable giving with a mindset that acknowledges potential for error, seeks to learn, and continuously improves by demanding evidence of strong impact from organizations.
10. Consider Psychological Value
When making decisions, including charitable giving, evaluate not only the monetary expected value but also psychological factors such as personal feelings, regret, and satisfaction.
11. Donate to Personal Causes
Give to charitable causes you feel a strong personal connection to, as this can increase your motivation and satisfaction, even if other causes might have a higher “objective” impact.
12. Practice Immediate Generosity
If abstract charitable giving feels less satisfying, engage in more immediate and visible acts of generosity, such as tipping well or buying meals for friends, for a more tangible psychological reward.
13. Find Giving Role Models
Seek out role models for charitable giving, as observing others’ generosity, especially those who give despite limited means, can psychologically motivate you to increase your own giving.
14. Value Small Donations
Do not underestimate the power of small donations; even a few hundred dollars can make a significant difference when directed to highly effective charities.
15. Listen to 10 Happier
Tune into the “10 Happier” podcast weekly to gain ancient wisdom, modern science, and humor, which can help you improve your overall well-being and actions.
8 Key Quotes
we underestimate the benefit to ourselves of giving money to others.
Jacob Goldstein
when we do those simulations we get them really really wrong.
Laurie Santos
when we spend on others we're happier.
Laurie Santos
everybody's just thinking about themselves all the time.
Laurie Santos
we're the people who react skeptically to organizations saying we're just trying to help people around the world and we say well how do you know and can you prove it.
Ellie Hassenfeld
the difference between some of the best programs that can very roughly say avert the death of a young child for approximately five to ten thousand dollars and then other programs which could have very limited impact I think in the worst case even cause harm.
Ellie Hassenfeld
a nit is basically George Costanza.
Nate Silver
degen is short for degenerate gambler but in a loving way.
Maria Konnikova
1 Protocols
Reducing Friction in Giving
Laurie Santos- Simplify the act of doing nice things, like using a meal train link or making charitable donations easy to access.
- Practice doing nice things repeatedly, allowing it to become a habit and second nature over time.