Need to Know How Charitable You Are? There's an App for That

Chapter 3 of SuperFreakonomics, called “Unbelievable Stories About Apathy and Altruism,” takes a look at the research of John List (the Univ. of Chicago economist, not the notorious murderer of the same same — although the same chapter does cast a new light on a famous murder as well). List’s research challenges the prevailing wisdom on a few decades’ worth of lab experiments which seemed to prove that human beings are innately fair or even altruistic. Much of this research concerns a pair of lab games called Ultimatum and Dictator. If you want to see how altruistic or charitable you are in the context of these games, the time has come: here’s where you can download a free app that lets you join the fun. And here’s what it looks like:

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COMMENTS: 10

  1. Sean Barrett says:

    Neither this blog post nor the linked-to appshopper page actually use the word “iPhone” anywhere on the page, although I assume that’s the supported platform.

    The word “app” does not imply this by itself.

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  2. David says:

    Dictator is more of a measure of “Socialism” than “Charitability”. What happened to donating to a cause you care about or folks less well off?

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