Motivating People without Guilt Trips

The past summer has been a tumultuous start to the new decade. It began with a global pandemic, seemed to crescendo with the Black Lives Matter protests, and culminated with the recent declaration of a winner in the US elections. These events have raised questions of not only how to approach such issues, but also how to motivate other people to become involved in solutions—especially when no direct personal benefit might be derived from being involved. This “pro-social” mindset can be difficult to nurture in the public at large but recent research has shown that there are specific factors that can foster pro-social behavior or discourage it. Here to discuss these factors is behavioral scientist and researcher at the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, Dr. Claudia Schneider.