Framing an altruistic action in periodic (versus aggregate) terms reduces people’s moral evaluation of the act and the actor

Charities often express altruistic acts as a series of periodic payments (“donate $10 per month”) as opposed to aggregating them over a longer period (“donate $120 per year”). Five experiments (three preregistered, N = 1479) test whether the framing of an altruistic act affects observers' moral judgment of the act and the actor. Observers perceive a donation as less moral (Experiment 1) and the donor to have lower moral character (Experiments 2a & 2b) when altruistic actions are framed in periodic rather than aggregate terms. An aggregate-framed act increases observers' perception of the donors' sacrifice and the perceived magnitude of their help to the beneficiary. Experiment 3 finds that these two factors can explain the effect of framing on moral judgment. However, donors may hold incorrect intuitions about observers' moral judgment. Experiment 4 shows that donors predict that observers' moral judgment would depend on their decision to donate but not on the appeal to which they respond. The results enrich our understanding of the consequences of using periodic framing of donations, a widespread practice in the marketplace.