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When promoting a charity can hurt charitable giving: A metacognitive analysis
Author(s) -
Smith Robert W.,
Schwarz Norbert
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2012.01.001
Subject(s) - metacognition , psychology , set (abstract data type) , feeling , social psychology , raising (metalworking) , impression formation , cognitive psychology , cognition , perception , social perception , computer science , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , programming language
Charities need to come to mind to enter a potential donor's consideration set. However, feeling familiar with a charity and its cause can facilitate or impair giving. In most cases, perceived good memory for details of the cause fosters the impression of personal importance, which increases giving (Studies 1 and 3). But when the charity aims to increase awareness of a cause, good memory for the cause suggests that awareness is already high, which impairs giving (Studies 2 and 3). Hence, promotions for awareness‐raising charities can actually have negative consequences, confirming the predictions of a metacognitive analysis.