HSE Scientists Discover How to Predict Charitable Behaviour Through Physiological Reactions
Researchers at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have investigated how the emotional impact of advertising affects the amount people willing to donate to support animal welfare. To accomplish this, the researchers measured physiological responses such as heart rate, electrodermal activity, and facial expressions in individuals viewing various photos of dogs. The findings indicate that willingness to donate is most accurately predicted by heart rate and facial muscle activation. The study has been published in Social Psychology.
Neuromarketing techniques, which assess audience emotional responses and engagement based on physiological and neural activity, are widely used to evaluate the effectiveness of commercial advertising. However, these techniques are only just beginning to be applied in predicting the success of charitable giving appeals. This type of message is particularly well-suited for neuromarketing approaches, since the decision to donate is often driven by emotions, sometimes without the donor's conscious awareness. In this context, objective methods of assessing emotional states through physiological indicators can uncover subconscious audience reactions, which traditional surveys are unable to detect.
The scientific literature presents conflicting evidence regarding the impact of emotions on donations. This is largely due to methodological limitations, as most previous studies relied on declarative methods, such as surveys and rating scales, where respondents self-reported their feelings. However, study participants are not always able to accurately identify the emotions evoked by charity advertising, or may be unwilling to openly share them, especially when the fundraising goals involve controversial or taboo topics, such as supporting socially marginalised groups. One such topic is the rescue of stray animals.
‘The attitude toward stray dogs in society is mixed; some view them as victims of circumstance, while others see them as a threat. Based on this, we hypothesised that using neuromarketing methods to study the relationship between emotions and charitable behaviour would be particularly relevant in the context of helping these animals,' explains Anna Shepelenko, co-author of the study, Research Fellow at the Centre for Cognition and Decision Making of the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, and participant in the project 'I Choose to Pursue Science,' implemented with support from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
To explore the potential of using neuromarketing methods to evaluate the effectiveness of charitable appeals, Anna Shepelenko, Vladimir Kosonogov, and Anna Shestakova, Research Fellows at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, conducted an experiment that comprehensively analysed the relationship between physiological reactions and the motivation to donate. During the experiment, 54 volunteers were shown 32 photos of dogs. After viewing each photo, participants had the option to donate a portion of the money they received for participating in the experiment to support the animal shown. All donations were real, and participants were informed of this in advance. The funds raised were donated to the Giving Hope Fund for homeless pets. Additionally, participants were asked to rate how pleasant or unpleasant they felt about the image and how aroused they were.
During the presentation of the images, the researchers recorded three physiological indicators: heart rate, skin conductance, and facial muscle activity. These indicators enabled the researchers to capture objective signs of emotional states and compare them with the participants' self-reported feelings.
The researchers found a correlation between heart rate, facial muscle movement, and the amount of donations. Unpleasant images that evoked strong emotions caused a greater decrease in heart rate compared to pleasant and neutral ones, and the lower the heart rate, the larger the donation participants were willing to make. Most of the funds were raised by photos that activated the viewer's corrugator supercilii, the muscle responsible for furrowing the brow, which is associated with unpleasant emotions. In contrast, animals whose appearance evoked pleasant emotions, associated with the activity of the zygomaticus major muscle involved in smiling, elicited the smallest donations.
Additionally, the researchers examined how various characteristics of the prospective beneficiaries, such as the animal's age, health, visible signs of being a stray, and the presence of a potential caregiver, might influence donors' emotions and the size of their donations. To this end, the animals in the photographs were shown in various conditions—healthy or sick, domestic or stray, as puppies or adults, and with or without a human nearby. Photos of healthy, domestic dogs proved to be the least effective in soliciting donations, raising the smallest amounts. The researchers' hypothesis that pictures of puppies would elicit the greatest response was not confirmed; the difference in donations between puppies and adult dogs was insignificant. The presence of a human next to an animal also had no impact on charitable behaviour.
'Our findings demonstrate that neuromarketing methods can be a reliable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of charity advertising. Given the ambivalence of society's attitudes toward stray animals, we anticipated some discrepancies between the self-reported emotional data and the physiological reactions measured, but this was not the case. In other words, we found no evidence that the participants were attempting to conceal their true emotions toward the dogs. In the context of a laboratory experiment, participants preferred to donate to animals that evoked strong and unpleasant emotions, as confirmed by both self-reported data and physiological reactions,' according to Anna Shepelenko.
At the same time, she emphasises that the results do not account for the potential effect of avoiding negative information, which may occur with repeated exposure to upsetting content. Therefore, to further study the influence of emotions on prosocial behaviour, additional research is needed that examines donor behaviour over an extended period.
See also:
Similar Comprehension, Different Reading: How Native Language Affects Reading in English as a Second Language
Researchers from the MECO international project, including experts from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, have developed a tool for analysing data on English text reading by native speakers of more than 19 languages. In a large-scale experiment involving over 1,200 people, researchers recorded participants’ eye movements as they silently read the same English texts and then assessed their level of comprehension. The results showed that even when comprehension levels were the same, the reading process—such as gaze fixations, rereading, and word skipping—varied depending on the reader's native language and their English proficiency. The study has been published in Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
Mortgage and Demography: HSE Scientists Reveal How Mortgage Debt Shapes Family Priorities
Having a mortgage increases the likelihood that a Russian family will plan to have a child within the next three years by 39 percentage points. This is the conclusion of a study by Prof. Elena Vakulenko and doctoral student Rufina Evgrafova from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences. The authors emphasise that this effect is most pronounced among women, people under 36, and those without children. The study findings have been published in Voprosy Ekonomiki.
Scientists Discover How Correlated Disorder Boosts Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a unique state of matter in which electric current flows without any energy loss. In materials with defects, it typically emerges at very low temperatures and develops in several stages. An international team of scientists, including physicists from HSE MIEM, has demonstrated that when defects within a material are arranged in a specific pattern rather than randomly, superconductivity can occur at a higher temperature and extend throughout the entire material. This discovery could help develop superconductors that operate without the need for extreme cooling. The study has been published in Physical Review B.
Scientists Develop New Method to Detect Motor Disorders Using 3D Objects
Researchers at HSE University have developed a new methodological approach to studying motor planning and execution. By using 3D-printed objects and an infrared tracking system, they demonstrated that the brain initiates the planning process even before movement begins. This approach may eventually aid in the assessment and treatment of patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. The paper has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Civic Identity Helps Russians Maintain Mental Health During Sanctions
Researchers at HSE University have found that identifying with one’s country can support psychological coping during difficult times, particularly when individuals reframe the situation or draw on spiritual and cultural values. Reframing in particular can help alleviate symptoms of depression. The study has been published in Journal of Community Psychology.
Scientists Clarify How the Brain Memorises and Recalls Information
An international team, including scientists from HSE University, has demonstrated for the first time that the anterior and posterior portions of the human hippocampus have distinct roles in associative memory. Using stereo-EEG recordings, the researchers found that the rostral (anterior) portion of the human hippocampus is activated during encoding and object recognition, while the caudal (posterior) portion is involved in associative recall, restoring connections between the object and its context. These findings contribute to our understanding of the structure of human memory and may inform clinical practice. A paper with the study findings has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Researchers Examine Student Care Culture in Small Russian Universities
Researchers from the HSE Institute of Education conducted a sociological study at four small, non-selective universities and revealed, based on 135 interviews, the dual nature of student care at such institutions: a combination of genuine support with continuous supervision, reminiscent of parental care. This study offers the first in-depth look at how formal and informal student care practices are intertwined in the post-Soviet educational context. The study has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.
AI Can Predict Student Academic Performance Based on Social Media Subscriptions
A team of Russian researchers, including scientists from HSE University, used AI to analyse 4,500 students’ subscriptions to VK social media communities. The study found that algorithms can accurately identify both high-performing students and those struggling with their studies. The paper has been published in IEEE Access.
HSE Scientists: Social Cues in News Interfaces Build Online Trust
Researchers from the HSE Laboratory for Cognitive Psychology of Digital Interface Users have discovered how social cues in the design of news websites—such as reader comments, the number of reposts, or the author’s name—can help build user trust. An experiment with 137 volunteers showed that such interface elements make a website appear more trustworthy and persuasive to users, with the strongest cue being links to the media’s social networks. The study's findings have been published in Human-Computer Interaction.
Immune System Error: How Antibodies in Multiple Sclerosis Mistake Their Targets
Researchers at HSE University and the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS) have studied how the immune system functions in multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease in which the body's own antibodies attack its nerve fibres. By comparing blood samples from MS patients and healthy individuals, scientists have discovered that the immune system in MS patients can mistake viral proteins for those of nerve cells. Several key proteins have also been identified that could serve as new biomarkers for the disease and aid in its diagnosis. The study has been published in Frontiers in Immunology. The research was conducted with support from the Russian Science Foundation.