Why do older people give to charity?

Here's a little research that helps shine a light on why it's predominantly older people that give money to charity - particularly through direct mail.

It makes them feel good!

Wow. What a shock! I heard your chin hit the floor.

But what's interesting is just why it makes them feel good.

This study by Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick of Ohio State University and Matthias Hastall of Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen looked at media use amongst older adults (50 to 65 years old) and younger ones (18 to 30 years old).

The experiment showed that people use media to enhance their social identity. Older and younger people have different goals when they interact with media, and it shows in what they choose to read.

In this case, participants were asked to review an online magazine. Each magazine contained carefully constructed stories, but the emphasis was changed depending on the version of the magazine they received – one had a positive spin. The other contained a negative one.

For example, one positive article was headlined...

“Visitation rights gained after daring protest – Demonstration at 100 feet high a success.”

The negative version had the headline...

“Visitation rights denied despite daring protest – Demonstration at 100 feet high in vain.”

The stories were illustrated with a photograph of the person involved. Half were younger and half were older.

Each magazine had a random mix of stories and people, clearly differentiated by age. Participants were asked to read the magazines and indicate which stories they preferred.

Knoblich-Westerwick described what they found...

"Results showed that the older participants were more likely to select negative articles about younger people, but they did not show a strong preference for either positive or negative stories about people in their own age group.

"Younger people showed low interest in articles about older individuals – regardless of whether the stories were positive or negative. They did choose to read more positive stories about their own age group than they did negative stories.

"After participants finished browsing and evaluating the online magazine, they were given a short questionnaire aimed at measuring their self-esteem.

"Results showed that younger people showed no differences in self-esteem based on what they had read. However, the more that older people read negative stories about younger individuals, the higher the older people’s levels of self-esteem tended to be."

According to Knobloch-Westerwick, older people's preference for negative news about their younger counterparts can be explained by their place in society...

"Younger people, who are less certain about their own identity, prefer to read about other young people to see how they live their lives.

"Older people, on the other hand, have greater certainty regarding their identity. However, living in a youth centred culture, they may appreciate a boost in self-esteem. That's why they prefer the negative stories about younger people, who are seen as having a higher status in our society."

And it's this need for self-esteem that fundraisers need to take into account. 

By giving to charity, older people directly confront their media stereotype. Though they can be portrayed as wise, they are often shown as slow, forgetful and even a burden.

Through their relationship with charity, they can demonstrate their kindness and their usefulness.

In doing so, they enhance their social identity and enjoy an increase in self-esteem.

It helps explain why charity communications which focus on showing the donor what they have done, always beat those that talk about what the organisation has achieved – they are far more effective at answering the donors' need for esteem.

Thanks to the fabulous @daria for the heads up on the research.

Photo credit: Creative tools

Comments

[Marcus Warry]

interesting research for sure. It's such a commonly made point in many media publications that the "youth of today" are a waste of space... that they've lost all respect for society and their elders (Daly Mail stuff.. it seems these publications are just fuelling demand then... how sad)

I thought this knocking of the youth was due to the tendency for people to look back on their lives with rose tinted spectacles. As the negative observations of the youth, often go hand in hand with other comments about "how polite and amazing everyone used to be" and - "in my day we could leave our front door open and go on holiday for a month - and come back and nothing would have been touched"!

incidentally one of the reasons for this, is that ther was nothing to take. Why walk into to Mr Jones' house to take his saucepan, and piss bowl? now people have hi fis, computers, iphones etc. OK it's a different point. But I think the issue of "locking doors" has more to do with the increase in everyone's own wealth and possessions - rather than a break down in community spirit.

and are the "youth of today" truly worse than the ones 50 years ago?! I don't think they intrinsicly are at all.

Anyway, back to the point - I'm intrigued that this research points to lack of esteem of older people, and the need for them to knock the young to make them feel better about themselves. I agree that this research makes sence. But in a way - how sad?! and how pathetic?!?!?!

why does life have to flow from youthful, childhood exuberance and running around yelling "I'm a dinosaur" - towards the seemingly inescapable positon of wearing brown slacks, being set in your ways, and frankly feeling so miserable about your life, you feel you have to find fault in others to make you feel better...

ok, started another point there! but back to charitable giving - if their low self esteem leads them to give money to charity, to build there sense of worth - then at least there is a positive outcome from all this misery...

Does this make a case for targeting sad people generally I wonder?! can you get a list from experian that secures a profile of "people that are a bit down in the dumps"... kind of being tongue in cheek.. kind of thinking i could be onto something! let me know your thoughts!

[James Long]

Interesting post. The key hypothesis for me is that 'By giving to charity, older people directly confront their media stereotype' - an argument that sounds very similar to the RNLI campaign among the younger generation with the motivation to overturn the idea of them being a “generation of hot-blooded, vicious, knife wielding, ASBO-collecting hooded thugs" ftp://ftp.dma.org.uk/webdocs/awards/dm/Pdf/2009/246.pdf.

I have a number of points and would be interested in anyone's comments,

(i) whiles't I strongly agree that giving is one way through which people seek to confirm there values and identity, I would argue this is internalised, rather than driven by an external threat to their self esteem. Put simply if they didn't believe the negative view portrayed of them they would simply reject the information. I think it's stretching it to argue that people are donating in a 'hidden' exchange simply to overturn someone else's negative view of their generation.

(ii) the description of the findings would come as no surprise to those who are involved in 'values' segmentation - such as Cultural Dynamics. What is being described is a sustenance set of values held by a sizable proportion of the UK. They view the world as increasingly hostile / negative and hence seeks out information that supports that view. Giving in this context is about someone recognising the case study etc as a fellow 'little person' who has suffered in the big bad world, and wishes to help redress the balance.

(iii) the other area that i find interesting relates the work of John Ford at Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia. He has produced some fascinating research looking into the role nostalgia plays in motivating charitable behaviour - well worth a read

[Starting A Charity]

Intereting findings. Responses from both younger and older people perhaps sumarise the often stereotypical view of young people, most of which is fueled through the (increasigly) negative media.

Young people see through there own lives and that of people they know that not all young people are bad, and therefore are likely to seek and be refreshed by positive stories about their age group. Old people though, perhaps under the assumption that young people are to blame for everything bad about society, will have this in mind when seeing negative stories about the young, almost with an attitude that these stories are typical of all young people.

[elina karina]

not bad!!
in my opinion our parents we must take care of them coz
without them we will not see this world