From fairy tales to philanthropy: How neuroscience is reframing gifting culture
by Pinzhang Wang and Gemma Calvert
Neuromarketing fuses neuroscience and marketing. By understanding how the brain processes concern for others, it is possible to design more effective charitable marketing campaigns, say NTU’s Pinzhang Wang and Gemma Calvert.
- Highly engaged social consumption behaviors, like giving, must be recognized as being largely influenced by the subconscious.
- Motivations for giving are often complex and multifaceted, leading to what is known as “motivational confusion.”
- The interplay between the conscious desire to help and subconscious influences can drive or deter philanthropic actions.
Why It Matters
Marketers who understand the subconscious drivers behind generosity can craft more effective, emotionally resonant campaigns that encourage charitable giving. This will transform traditional gift-giving occasions into opportunities for philanthropy and promote sustainable consumer behavior.
Key Takeaways
- Technology and charity are merging to create new norms of giving that prioritize meaningful impact over material wealth.
- Acts of generosity, such as donating to charity, are reinforced by the brain’s reward system through the release of dopamine.
- Storytelling activates mirror neurons to trigger connection with potential donors, encouraging contributions to charitable causes.
On Christmas Eve, as families gather to enjoy food and wine, a little girl lights the last match alone, imagining warmth and love before passing away with her beloved grandmother.
The story of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen (1845) tugs at our heartstrings and serves as a poignant reminder of poverty and loneliness. This narrative, especially resonant during the festive season, invites us to reflect on the essence of giving and the impact of our actions on those less fortunate.
Across the world, in cold winters, kind-hearted citizens offer hot porridge, soup, and bread to the homeless. These acts demonstrate human compassion and charity, but are there other motives behind such generosity?
Deciphering the Complex Motivations Behind Giving
When we look at highly engaged social consumption behaviors such as giving, we must recognize that these behaviors are largely influenced by the subconscious. Motivations for giving are often complex, leading to “motivational confusion,” where people struggle to explain their true motivations.
It is well established that much of our behavior, including giving, is heavily influenced by unconscious attitudes. Asking people why they choose to donate or engage in altruistic behaviors is often misleading and poorly predictive.
Neuromarketing, an innovative fusion of neuroscience and marketing, peels back the layers of our subconscious to reveal the motivations behind generosity. By understanding the interplay between conscious intentions and subconscious influences, marketers can craft messages that resonate both logically and emotionally.
The Neuroscience of Generosity
Most people are less generous toward strangers than close others—a bias known as social discounting. However, extreme altruists, such as kidney donors, exhibit dramatically reduced social discounting.
Recent neuroscience research by Shawn Rhoads of Georgetown University found that extreme altruists show distinct patterns of brain activity in regions associated with pro-social decision-making, including the anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala (Rhoads et al., 2023). Their neural responses are less biased between close and distant others, suggesting that understanding how the brain processes concern for others can help design more effective charitable marketing campaigns.
Several brain imaging studies have shown that acts of generosity, such as donating to charity, are reinforced by the brain’s reward system through the release of dopamine (Cutler et al., 2021). This neurological response explains why giving leads to happiness and satisfaction, motivating individuals to engage in generosity repeatedly.
Mirror neurons, discovered in the early 1990s, also play a role by allowing us to experience others’ emotions as if they were our own, facilitating empathy—a key driver of altruistic behavior (Singer, 2004).
For marketers, this means that emotionally charged storytelling can activate mirror neurons, prompting individuals to give generously to alleviate both others’ suffering and their own empathic discomfort. Understanding these neural mechanisms enables the design of campaigns that tap into natural human empathy, increasing charitable donations.
Reframing Festive Giving
Christmas, traditionally focused on gift exchanges, presents an opportunity to combine neuromarketing and charity. Emotionally resonant advertising can encourage donations over material gifts, reducing consumerism while promoting the true meaning of Christmas—giving and sharing.
This concept is also influencing other traditional festivals, such as Chinese New Year, where the custom of giving red envelopes is evolving into broader expressions of social love through donations rather than material gifts.
Reimagining festive traditions as opportunities for philanthropy marks a significant cultural shift. Neuromarketing strategies can evoke powerful emotions, transforming the act of donation into a shared experience of joy and fulfillment that transcends traditional gifts.
Decision-Making Processes of Altruists
The brain often struggles between selfish impulses and altruistic behavior, with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) playing a critical role in self-control and decision-making. The DLPFC helps override self-interest, allowing us to choose altruistic actions instead.
Over time, repeated acts of giving can lead to neuroplastic changes, reinforcing generosity as a habitual response. A meta-analysis by Cutler et al. (2021) found that consistent generosity strengthens neural pathways associated with reward and self-control, making charitable behavior more automatic.
While direct training may have limitations in altering an individual’s charitable behavior, neuromarketing provides valuable insights for charities. Behavioral science and neuroscience can help design campaigns that encourage giving by emphasizing social norms, providing simple nudges, and using emotionally charged storytelling to engage the brain’s reward and empathy circuits.
A Bright Future for Technology and Charity
The tale of The Little Match Girl heralds a future where technology and charity merge to create new norms of giving that prioritize sustainability and meaningful impact over material wealth.
As we enter this new era, integrating neuromarketing insights into philanthropy offers a path that enhances charitable campaigns and fosters a culture of generosity. This vision, where technology helps us connect with our innate altruism, promises a world where giving becomes an integral part of the human experience, enriching both our lives and those of others.
This article was first published on WARC at https://www.warc.com/content/article/warc-exclusive/from-fairy-tales-to-philanthropy-how-neuroscience-is-reframing-gifting-culture/157758.
About the Authors
Pinzhang Wang
Graduate, Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore
Gemma Calvert
Professor of Marketing, Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore