Donating to Charity Activates Good Feelings in the Brain
June 15, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
A team of economists and psychologists at the University of Oregon have found that donating money to charity activates sections of the human brain that are associated with pleasure, reports the Chicago Tribune.
In the study, female college students were given $100, then told that a portion of the money would be automatically given to a local food bank or they could use it to make a donation to the same charity.
When the women voluntarily donated the money, tests of their brain showed they were getting the same feeling they get from other activities that feel good.
The researchers used brain-imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging to figure out how the women were reacting to the mandatory transfer of money versus the voluntary donations.
(Free registration is required to view this article.)
