ipl-logo

Legitimizing Paltry Contribution

799 Words4 Pages

The study “Increasing Compliance by Legitimizing Paltry Contributions: When Even a Penny Helps” researches compliance as it relates to the favors being asked. The researchers predict that easiest way to gain compliance is to ask for small favors because people feel that they cannot say no. The purpose of the research was to test if minimal requests would make participants more likely to say yes, and if starting with a small request can influence someone to help with a larger, more fulfilling request. This study uses two different experiments to test their hypothesis. The first experiment used 84 people from suburban neighborhoods. They then had groups of mixed genders of college students go door to door to ask for donations for the American …show more content…

The researchers used a larger sample size, 169 adults in suburban neighborhoods, to get a better representation. Experiment two used new college students to go door to door to keep the experiment somewhat blind. The control statement was, “We've already received some contributions, and I wonder if you would be willing to help by giving a donation”. So every treatment used this statement and then a statement would be added. Three of the conditions used were, “Even a penny will help”, “Even a dollar will help”, and “We’ve already received some contributions, ranging from a penny on up, and I wonder if you would be willing to help by giving a donation” (the social legitimization condition). Each treatment was measured for different variables. The last condition was put in place because the researchers thought that an alternate explanation might be a main factor for donations. Since the questions says “even a penny will help” it was thought that it may sound as if the American Cancer Association was in desperate need of money; so in turn a survey was given to 46 of adults that questioned how much these participants thought that certain charities needed money, especially focusing the American Cancer Association. The variables measured in this experiment were: percent of adults who gave donations, total amount given, and mean need of money score (from the …show more content…

It also displayed that the “penny” statement almost doubled the control. The treatment statement had 50% of people contribute money whereas the control only had 28.6%, and the mean amount of money given between both conditions was about one dollar. The results of the second experiment presented that there was not much of a difference in the survey of need scores, meaning that this alternate explanation probably did not play a factor in the people giving donations. The only significant test was the test of the combination of the penny and the social legitimization condition, and it was strongly more significant than the test of the control and the dollar combination. Since the researchers did not hypothesize this, both of the hypotheses for this particular experiment were not supported. However the overall hypothesis, if asking for small requests will gain more compliance, was supported. In both conditions the “even a penny” statement gained the most amount of adult

Show More
Related

  • Feed SA Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    717 Words  | 3 Pages

    If someone goes shopping and spends hundreds of dollars on items and don’t donate, that says something about who they are as a person. While shopping a constant reminder is right there. A sad, innocent, starving, child stares up begging for someone to help. While the shopper may be well-off or struggling to put groceries on the table for their family, they then realize that there is someone out there who has it much worse. Shoppers who may not be very eager to donate begin to see how ignoring this world problem makes reflects on them as a person.

    Read More

  • Doug Higginbottom The Executive Director Of United Way Of Southern Connecticut

    1236 Words  | 5 Pages

    In 1980, less than $1 million was raised in the workplace on the solicitation outside of the United Way auspices. (Oster35-36) But by 1990, they were close to $10 million and rapidly growing. (Oster36) In many parts of the country, the combined Health Appeal-did a fundraising for the master of the disease research that has launched a major challenge to the United Way.

    Read More

  • Dan Ariel Rhetorical Analysis

    402 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dan Ariel discusses how people own decision can be influenced by others. For example, he uses the organ donor example to show how some countries in Europe had far better organ donors than other countries in Europe. His argument is based on the fact of how different the two forms were written for getting participants being part of the organ donor program. European countries that have high rate participants of the organ donor program has a written form that mentions to “To check the box below if you don’t want to participate in the organ donor program” So many people don’t check that box various for reasons.

    Read More

  • Hurricane Harvey, 9/11 And The Holocaust

    285 Words  | 2 Pages

    For one example, Hurricane Harvey. People from all over the world were able to help the citizens that got hit by hurricane Harvey. Through all of the fundraising, thirty-seven million dollars was raised for the victims of the hurricane, which shows that many people are not selfish. And last but not least, people of northern Texas were able to help and show that they are not selfish by taking in whole families during the recovery of Hurricane Harvey.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Singer Solution To World Poverty By Peter Singer

    627 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer, he argues that if the money not spent on necessities of life were donated, “that money could be the difference between life and death for children in need.” He makes note of the fact that so much of our income is spent on things that are not essential to life, and that if we were to donate the money we did not have to spend, we would help many children in need. Singer gives many theoretical examples such as, a Brazilian woman giving away a child whom she knows is going to be killed, just to get $1,000 that she spent on a new TV. Another example would be, Bob having the choice between a train smashing his Bugatti or killing a kid who doesn’t hear the train, and Bob decides to save his car and not the kid. Singer states that although those actions may have seemed awful, we Americans do the same, just without having it directly in front of us like Bob and the Brazilian woman did.

    Read More

  • 9/11 Vs Present Day Essay

    1319 Words  | 6 Pages

    Stephanie Strom, writer for the New York Times, announces that “Ms. Switzer was determined to make an opportunity, as she calls it, out of the philanthropy that rose from the ashes that blanketed the school.” Anna Switzer, the public school’s principal, created a program called Project Giveback that educates children that they are strong enough to help others now that they have been aided themselves. The students would send stuffed animals to hospitals, write letters to their helpers in other states, and help raise money for different organizations. This initially limited effort that came out of a principal and her students demonstrates America can prevail through one of its worst moments in history through the help of one another.

    Read More

  • Preschoolers Remember Sam Stone

    1835 Words  | 8 Pages

    How Accurate Children Are at Recognizing Faces Many criminal investigations rely on eyewitness accounts in order to identify a criminal. Some of these investigations require children to choose from a photograph who they believe the person they saw was. Children (ages 4-7) are less able to recall details of a situation, and are not yet able to descriptively describe events that happened to them. Adults however, are better at recalling than children (given optimal conditions).

    Read More

  • Article Analysis: The Singer Solution By Peter Singer

    725 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his article, The Singer Solution, Peter Singer argues that citizens of affluent nations are failing to do their moral duty, which is to donate far more to charity than they actually do. The article starts by referring to the Brazilian film Central Station where a miserable retired schoolteacher named Dora is faced with a choice. She could pocket an impressive $1000, but she must first convince a homeless 9 year old to follow her to a certain location where she is told he would be adopted. After spending the $1000 on a new TV, Dora learns that the boy would actually be killed and his organs sold. Dora decides to get the boy back, but what if Dora decided to look the other way after learning of the boy’s fate?

    Read More

  • Analysis: The Singer Solution To World Poverty

    794 Words  | 4 Pages

    By providing a specific number, $200, Singer demonstrates how simple and reasonable it is to save a child in poverty. Additionally, he repeats, “to save a child’s life,” which demonstrates exactly what a $200 donation could do for a child in poverty. As an example, Singer references a credible philosopher, Peter Unger, and acknowledges that “by his calculation, $200 in donations would help a sickly 2-year-old transform into a healthy 6-year-old.” Next, he establishes, “if you were to give up dining out just for one month, you would easily save that amount.” Singer emphasizes this to show the reader how simple it is to save $200, and, more importantly, save the life of a helpless child.

    Read More

  • Iqbal Masih: The War Against Child Labor

    760 Words  | 4 Pages

    First, they realized that even though they were giving families money, it was not enough because they still weren’t making enough money to support their families. They then come up with the idea to make WE VILLAGES, states WE CHARITY. These villages gave families education, food, clean water, medical attention, and many other important pieces of living. With these new villages, families didn’t have to sell their kids for money. Also, WE CHARITY has built classrooms in countries like Kenya to help education.

    Read More

  • Barbara Lazear Ascher's 'On Compassion'

    820 Words  | 4 Pages

    In one circumstance, we may feel the need to give to those who are poor to keep them from getting in our personal space; and in other circumstances we feel that we give to others out of the kindness of our heart. I completely agree with Ascher and her views on compassion, because I have been in similar situation where I have questioned why people give money, and whether they give with a whole heart or out of necessity. Furthermore, this essay can teach us plenty of lessons that can be utilized throughout our lives so we can teach others and make them aware of the need to be more

    Read More

  • The Singer Solution To World Poverty Analysis

    1805 Words  | 8 Pages

    The objection is that all that is needed to prevent any future ailments is for citizens living in high wealth nations to donate their fair share. Through this method, the level of donations needed to prevent any future ailments would be met before anyone had to donate the percentage of income that Singer suggests. Singer agrees that the idea of everyone doing their fair share is noble, and would fix the problem. But, Singer believes that since we know others aren’t doing their fair share, and that it would be difficult to force them, the idea doesn’t work. Given that others aren’t doing their fair share, Singer asks how could we stop at the fair rate, when we know children are dying preventable deaths that could have been stopped had we done more.

    Read More

  • Socioeconomic Status In America

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    In today’s society, the separation of social classes and the variation of socioeconomic statuses continue to increase. According to “Class in America,” which was published in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, wealth distribution in the United States has continued to change over the years. It appears that the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Due to the way wealth is distributed in today’s society there are 3.4 million homeless individuals in the United States (Mantsios, 2009). As a result of the wealth distribution in our society, more individuals are being considered lower class as a result of their socioeconomic status.

    Read More

  • Peter Singer's Arguments For Helping Overseas Aid Groups

    557 Words  | 3 Pages

    Peter Singer argues that prosperous people should donate their excess money to the overseas aid groups. When saying this, he believes Americans should stop spending their money on luxuries such as a TV, a computer, a car, and videogames. Instead of spending money on items such as that, he thought we should start sending money to those who are starving in other countries and need our help. There are pros and cons to Singer’s argument and both can be greatly supported.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Stanford Prison Experiment And Philip Zimbardo

    2176 Words  | 9 Pages

    In August of 1971, psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford prison experiment, which was funded by the U.S military to investigate the causes of dissension between military guards and prisoners. As the experiment commenced, the participating college students adapted to their roles as guards and detainees in the prison far beyond the expectations of Zimbardo. Authoritarian measures were enforced harshly upon those who were the prisoners, with some even subjected to psychological torture. However, many of the prisoners accepted this treatment passively, allowing psychological abuse and harassment to be inflicted. The experiment concluded that situation, rather than an individual's personality, affected the participants' behavior.

    Read More

More about Legitimizing Paltry Contribution

Open Document