Jeff Atwood
@codinghorror@infosec.exchange  ·  activity timestamp yesterday
Since 2019, Burrow and his researchers have selected about 1,200 college and high school students to receive $400 no-strings “contributions” to use “to pursue what matters most” to them — something that benefits their community, family or even themselves. Before awarding the funds (eligible recipients are selected randomly, not on the merits of their proposals), he tests all applicants based on standard measures of well-being and emotions. Six to eight weeks after awarding the $400 — the time during which the recipients have to make their contributions — he again tests those who received the funds and those who didn’t. https://contributionproject.org/ The preliminary results, which Burrow has just begun to present in academic conferences and shared publicly here for the first time, are unambiguous. At the start, both groups typically scored the same on psychological measures. Eight weeks later, those who received the contributions scored significantly higher than the non-recipients on all measures: latent well-being, sense of purpose, sense of belonging, sense of feeling needed and useful, and affective balance (a measure of positive and negative emotions). Burrow’s takeaway: “Invite people to think about a contribution they want to make and help them [to] make that contribution, and that person may walk around with greater purpose than if they hadn’t done that.”
Since 2019, Burrow and his researchers have selected about 1,200 college and high school students to receive $400 no-strings “contributions” to use “to pursue what matters most” to them — something that benefits their community, family or even themselves. Before awarding the funds (eligible recipients are selected randomly, not on the merits of their proposals), he tests all applicants based on standard measures of well-being and emotions. Six to eight weeks after awarding the $400 — the time during which the recipients have to make their contributions — he again tests those who received the funds and those who didn’t. https://contributionproject.org/ The preliminary results, which Burrow has just begun to present in academic conferences and shared publicly here for the first time, are unambiguous. At the start, both groups typically scored the same on psychological measures. Eight weeks later, those who received the contributions scored significantly higher than the non-recipients on all measures: latent well-being, sense of purpose, sense of belonging, sense of feeling needed and useful, and affective balance (a measure of positive and negative emotions). Burrow’s takeaway: “Invite people to think about a contribution they want to make and help them [to] make that contribution, and that person may walk around with greater purpose than if they hadn’t done that.”
Since 2019, Burrow and his researchers have selected about 1,200 college and high school students to receive $400 no-strings “contributions” to use “to pursue what matters most” to them — something that benefits their community, family or even themselves. Before awarding the funds (eligible recipients are selected randomly, not on the merits of their proposals), he tests all applicants based on standard measures of well-being and emotions. Six to eight weeks after awarding the $400 — the time during which the recipients have to make their contributions — he again tests those who received the funds and those who didn’t. https://contributionproject.org/ The preliminary results, which Burrow has just begun to present in academic conferences and shared publicly here for the first time, are unambiguous. At the start, both groups typically scored the same on psychological measures. Eight weeks later, those who received the contributions scored significantly higher than the non-recipients on all measures: latent well-being, sense of purpose, sense of belonging, sense of feeling needed and useful, and affective balance (a measure of positive and negative emotions). Burrow’s takeaway: “Invite people to think about a contribution they want to make and help them [to] make that contribution, and that person may walk around with greater purpose than if they hadn’t done that.”
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