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Small anonymous gifts earn more credit
Experiments run by psychologist Steven Pinker with postdocs and grad students found exactly that. The idea has a long pedigree: the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides built a ladder of righteousness in which the size of a gift does not decide how righteous it is.
Giving for glory or recognition sits lower on that ladder than giving anonymously. An anonymous giver has no ulterior motive of reputation, and can't call in the favor later or expect special treatment in return.
That leaves a paradox at the heart of altruism. Reputation is itself a motive for generosity, because people want others to think they are kind, generous, and beneficent. Once others see that motive at work, they give less credit, suspecting the giver is in it for long-term benefits.
How does Maimonides rank different kinds of giving?
Maimonides, writing in the twelfth century in his legal code the Mishneh Torah, listed eight levels of charity. The highest level is helping a person become self-sufficient, so that they no longer need to receive anything. Below that sits giving in which neither side knows who the other is. The lowest level is giving reluctantly.
Why do people give more when watched?
In 2006, Melissa Bateson and colleagues at Newcastle University ran an honesty box experiment in a university coffee room. They alternated the poster above the price list between images of flowers and images of watching eyes. In the weeks with eyes, people paid nearly three times as much per liter of milk. The effect was reported in the journal Biology Letters.
How does a hidden motive reduce credit for good deeds?
Psychologists describe this as the discounting principle, which the social psychologist Harold Kelley laid out in 1972. When an observer can name more than one plausible cause for an action, each cause gets less weight as the explanation. A gift that comes with applause has two causes, kindness and the applause. The same action performed in secret leaves only one.
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