The Influences of Individuals’ Space Angles on Charitable Donations

The big gap between the rich and the poor has become a major challenge for China’s rapid development. Donation is an effective form of social redistribution. However, donation behavior, especially charitable donation by individuals, is still in its infancy stage in China. How to motivate individuals to donate? Based on the embodied cognition theory, this paper proposes an effective and convenient method: changing people’s perspective and letting people look down from top, then they will have higher donation willingness. In three experimental studies, this effect was validated using different manipulations, samples, and measurements. The study extends our understanding on charitable giving and prosocial behavior. In addition, the results have important implications for governmental sectors and public welfare organizations to motivate individual donation behavior.