ABSTRACT
Philanthropy is a multifaceted phenomenon that is studied by several disciplines and perspectives. Because part of the philanthropic process is human-driven, those disciplines that study the human mind, brain, and behavior can contribute to such a multi- and interdisciplinary endeavor. This chapter examines the mechanisms underlying philanthropists’ emotions, decisions, and behaviors. It focuses on three research fields that may provide useful models and methods for philanthropic research: the behavioral, cognitive, and affective sciences. The chapter outlines how a solid understanding of why and how people give (and how beneficiaries react to receiving support) can only be achieved with a proper understanding of the affective mechanisms, such as motivation and emotion, that underlie the philanthropic process. Given the conceptual and methodological advances in the affective sciences for three decades and the emergence of dedicated fields such as affective neuroscience and affective computing, we suggest that we may need a field that explicitly considers the role of emotion and other affective phenomena in explaining, modeling, and predicting the determinants, nature, and the consequences of the philanthropic process at the individual and social levels. We could call this field affective philanthropy.
