Today on Cause Talk Radio, Megan and Joe talk to Dr. Lisa Cavanaugh of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business about our favorite topic: selfish giving!



Lisa, along with Francesca Gino (Harvard Business School) and Gavan Fitzsimons (Fuqua School of Business) wrote _When Doing Good Is Bad in Gift Giving: Mis-Predicting Appreciation of Socially Responsible Gifts_.



Megan, Lisa, and Joe discuss:


- How it was Lisa’s own giving of socially responsible gifts that sparked her interest in exploring why they are given and how they are received.
- How the positive reception of a socially responsible gift depends on the social distance between you and the person that’s receiving the gift.
- Just how egocentric we are when choosing gifts for others and the importance of empathy for giving gifts the receiver will love.
- Other research Lisa has done and the power of one emotion: LOVE!
- Lisa’s advice for giving socially responsible gifts.


**Links & Notes**


- [When Doing Good Is Bad in Gift Giving: Mis-Predicting Appreciation of Socially Responsible Gifts](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2628072)
- [WSJ: Socially Responsible Gifts Are Great - Primarily for the Givers](http://www.wsj.com/articles/socially-responsible-gifts-are-greatprimarily-for-the-givers-1450062178)
- [Dr. Cavanaugh’s Website](http://lacavanaugh.com/)
- [Making People Cry Isn’t a Good Nonprofit Mobile Strategy](http://www.selfishgiving.com/blog/cause-practices/making-people-cry-isnt-good-nonprofit-mobile-strategy)