Unobserved altruism: How self-signaling motivations and social benefits shape willingness to donate.

Public recognition is usually thought to motivate charitable giving. However, the current research identifies an important context in which the opposite occurs. We examine commonplace donation decisions involving modest amounts of money, which either take place in private, or are observed by others. We find robust evidence that public recognition can decrease donation likelihood. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect operates through a...