Give so it doesn't hurt

Christian Century, March 23, 2004

GIVE SO IT DOESN'T HURT: Researchers at Cornell University have conducted what they call "holier-than-thou" experiments to see how generous people think they are compared to how generous they think others are. Invariably, people judge themselves to be more generous than they really are and think others are less generous.

In one experiment undergraduate students were given $5.00 each, and then asked how much of this money they thought they would give to charity. On average, they thought they'd give half of it away and their peers would give only $1.80. In reality, students in the group donated only $1.53. The researchers' conclusion: people intend to be generous, but don't actually make the necessary sacrifice (Julie Salamon, Rambam's Ladder: A Meditation on Generosity and Why It Is Necessary to Give, Workman).