Prosocial: Center for Social Innovation (CSI)

Prosocial


	Giving the Gift of Our Time to Others In this quarter’s column, we explore giving the gift of our time to others. It’s a fact that most Americans are feeling more time-constrained than ever. With waking hours largely consumed by work, precious minutes remain for the daily list of to-dos, including exercise, cleaning, and socializing with friends and family. For some, time has become an even more valuable resource than money. Resource: News Article
	Supporting Equality in Education How can a certain kind of behavior actually contributes to inequalities? Specifically, do children’s social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom, thereby teasing out children’s own role in educational stratification? We consider how teachers may use such information to correct these dynamics, and thus contribute to more equal access for all children at school. Resource: Research Paper
	The Role of Social Norms in Energy and Water Conservation If you stayed in a hotel recently, you may have seen signs that encouraged you to reuse your towel in an effort to conserve resources. What drives you and others to participate in this environmentally and economically beneficial program? Professor Noah Goldstein studies the factors that motivate individuals to engage in prosocial actions using descriptive norms to design effective messages. He presents his research in this audio lecture presented by the Center for Social Innovation. Resource: Audio
	If You Need Something, Just Ask How likely are people to say "yes" to a request? We grossly underestimate how helpful people will be. We're also poor predictors of how many people will ask us for help. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation audio lecture, Francis Flynn explores why we are consistently bad at predicting cooperative behavior. He offers his counter-intuitive results from laboratory and fund-raising situations. Does it matter if you are reasonable? How much will it affect success if you first ask: "Will you do me a favor?" Resource: Audio
	Money Makes People Less Socially Focused A subtle reminder of how money can change one's motivations to be less prosocial and less connected. Experimental research shows that subjects exposed to the concept of money work longer before asking for help, are less helpful to others, create greater physical distance from others, and prefer to play and work alone. In this audio lecture sponsored by Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, marketing professor Kathleen Vohs demonstrates how small reminders of money can have large-scale influence. Resource: Audio
	Can Defaults Save Lives A pre-checked option can greatly influence choice, as preference can be constructed just by changing a few lines of HTML code. For policymakers and marketers, default settings are strategically designed to get to the desired outcome. In this audio lecture sponsored by Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, Columbia Graduate School of Business professor Eric Johnson demonstrates how defaults are a powerful and inexpensive tool that can be applied to promote prosocial actions and good behavior. Resource: Audio
	Small Steps, Big Leaps Briefing: The Science of Getting People to Do the Right Thing Invited at Stanford by a group of pro-social scientists from top universities, some 60 U.S. business and nonprofit leaders examined simple, practical, and cost-effective solutions for encouraging donations, volunteerism, social activism, and other responsible, caring, and pro-social behaviors. Resource: News Article
	A Room with a Viewpoint Managers and marketers can motivate consumers to participate in environmental conservation programs by telling them how the majority of other people behaved in the same situation. Researchers specifically studied how to ask hotel guests whether or not they wanted to reuse their towels during the course of a stay. The study highlights the benefits of employing social science research and theory—rather than business communicators’ hunches, lay theories, or best guesses—in crafting persuasive messages. Guests given a description : "the majority guests in this hotel asked to reuse their towels," were 9% more likely to make the same decision than guests who were simply asked to "help save the environment" with no information on comparative behavior. Guests were motivated even further when the description matched their social demographic even more closely. They were even more likely to reuse their towels when told the majority of people staying in their room in the past had done so. Resource: Research Paper
	Defaults Make a Difference Preset actions on forms, web pages and other materials — called defaults — have strategic importance that can make vital differences. They are far too important to delegate responsibility for setting them to programmers or form designers. If you want people to do something in the future, ask them to agree to it now, with an opt-out clause for the future by presetting the default. Giving a preset opt-in choice yields far more positive results than asking users to check a box. Resource: Research Paper
	Spending on Happiness Money can't buy you love but it can buy happiness — as long as it’s money for someone else. New research by Harvard Business School professor Michael I. Norton and colleagues Elizabeth W. Dunn and Lara B. Aknin, described in the journal Science, looks into how and why spending money on others promotes happiness. How much money people earn is less important for their happiness than how they choose to spend it. Although people believe that having money leads to happiness, research suggests they are happier if at least some of the money is given to others. Companies might want to think creatively about how to encourage employees to spend their bonuses. Likewise, organizations could look at alternate ways to participate in charitable giving. Resource: Research Paper