Give and Take

by Adam Grant

  pathological altruism: Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, and Michael McGrath, eds., Pathological Altruism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  “failing to study”: Vicki S. Helgeson and Heidi L. Fritz, “The Implications of Unmitigated Agency and Unmitigated Communion for Domains of Problem Behavior,” Journal of Personality 68 (2000): 1031-1057.

  completely independent motivations: Adam M. Grant and David M. Mayer, “Good Soldiers and Good Actors: Prosocial and Impression Management Motives as Interactive Predictors of Affiliative Citizenship Behaviors,” Journal of Applied Psychology 94 (2009): 900–912; Adam M. Grant and James Berry, “The Necessity of Others Is the Mother of Invention: Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivations, Perspective-Taking, and Creativity,” Academy of Management Journal 54 (2011): 73–96; and Carsten K. W. De Dreu and Aukje Nauta, “Self-Interest and Other-Orientation in Organizational Behavior: Implications for Job Performance, Prosocial Behavior, and Personal Initiative,” Journal of Applied Psychology 94 (2009): 913–926.

  “two great forces of human nature”: Bill Gates, “Creative Capitalism,” World Economic Forum, January 24, 2008.

  Overbrook: Steve Volk, “Top 10 Drug Corners,” Philadelphia Weekly, May 2, 2007, and Ledyard King, “Program to Identify Most Dangerous Schools Misses Mark,” USA Today, January 18, 2007.

  Conrey Callahan: Personal interview (January 26, 2012).

  job burnout: Christina Maslach, Wilmar Schaufeli, and Michael Leiter, “Job Burnout,” Annual Review of Psychology 52 (2001): 397–422.

  call center: Adam M. Grant, Elizabeth M. Campbell, Grace Chen, Keenan Cottone, David Lapedis, and Karen Lee, “Impact and the Art of Motivation Maintenance: The Effects of Contact with Beneficiaries on Persistence Behavior,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 103 (2007): 53–67; Adam M. Grant, “The Significance of Task Significance: Job Performance Effects, Relational Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions,” Journal of Applied Psychology 93 (2008): 108–124; Adam M. Grant, “Employees Without a Cause: The Motivational Effects of Prosocial Impact in Public Service,” International Public Management Journal 11 (2008): 48–66; and Adam M. Grant and Francesca Gino, “A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98 (2010): 946–955.

  “greatest untapped source of motivation”: Susan Dominus, “Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?” New York Times, March 31, 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/magazine/is-giving-the-secret-to-getting-ahead.html?pagewanted=all

  compassion fatigue: Olga Klimecki and Tania Singer, “Empathic Distress Fatigue Rather Than Compassion Fatigue? Integrating Findings from Empathy Research in Psychology and Social Neuroscience,” in Pathological Altruism, ed. Barbara Oakley et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 368–384; and Richard Shultz et al., “Patient Suffering and Caregiver Compassion: New Opportunities for Research, Practice, and Policy,” Gerontologist 47 (2007): 4–13.

  outsourcing inspiration: Adam M. Grant and David A. Hofmann, “Outsourcing Inspiration: The Performance Effects of Ideological Messages from Leaders and Beneficiaries,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 116 (2011): 173–187.

  buffer against stress: Adam M. Grant and Elizabeth M. Campbell, “Doing Good, Doing Harm, Being Well and Burning Out: The Interactions of Perceived Prosocial and Antisocial Impact in Service Work,” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 80 (2007): 665–691; Adam M. Grant and Sabine Sonnentag, “Doing Good Buffers Against Feeling Bad: Prosocial Impact Compensates for Negative Task and Self-Evaluations,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 111 (2010): 13–22.

  radiologists: Yehonatan Turner, Shuli Silberman, Sandor Joffe, and Irith Hadas-Halpern, “The Effect of Adding a Patient’s Photograph to the Radiographic Examination,” Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (2008).

  Italian nurses: Nicola Bellé, “Experimental Evidence on the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Job Performance,” Public Administration Review (forthcoming).

  Wells Fargo and Medtronic: Personal interviews with Ben Soccorsy (January 10, 2012) and Bill George (March 9, 2010).

  Anitra Karsten: see Ellen J. Langer, Mindfulness (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1989), 136.

  give continually without concern for their own well-being: Vicki S. Helgeson, “Relation of Agency and Communion to Well-Being: Evidence and Potential Explanations,” Psychological Bulletin 116 (1994): 412–428; Heidi L. Fritz and Vicki S. Helgeson, “Distinctions of Unmitigated Communion from Communion: Self-Neglect and Overinvolvement with Others,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75 (1998): 121–140; and Vicki S. Helgeson and Heidi L. Fritz, “Unmitigated Agency and Unmitigated Communion: Distinctions from Agency and Communion,” Journal of Research in Personality 33 (1999): 131–158.

  random acts of kindness: Sonja Lyubomirsky, Kennon Sheldon, and David Schkade, “Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change,” Review of General Psychology 9 (2005): 111–131.

  overloaded and stressed: Mark C. Bolino and William H. Turnley, “The Personal Costs of Citizenship Behavior: The Relationship between Individual Initiative and Role Overload, Job Stress, and Work-Family Conflict,” Journal of Applied Psychology 90 (2005): 740–748.

  equilibrium: Madoka Kumashiro, Caryl E. Rusbult, and Eli J. Finkel, “Navigating Personal and Relational Concerns: The Quest for Equilibrium,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95 (2008): 94–110.

  visible in our writing: James Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2011), 13.

  software engineers: Leslie A. Perlow, “The Time Famine: Toward a Sociology of Work Time,” Administrative Science Quarterly 44 (1999): 57–81.

  Sean Hagerty: Personal interview (April 26, 2012).

  Australian adults: Timothy D. Windsor, Kaarin J. Anstey, and Bryan Rodgers, “Volunteering and Psychological Well-Being among Young-Old Adults: How Much Is Too Much?” Gerontologist 48 (2008): 59–70.

  American adults: Ming-Ching Luoh and A. Regula Herzog, “Individual Consequences of Volunteer and Paid Work in Old Age: Health and Mortality,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43 (2002): 490–509; see also Terry Y. Lum and Elizabeth Lightfoot, “The Effects of Volunteering on the Physical and Mental Health of Older People,” Research on Aging 27 (2005): 31–55.

  When employees have strong time management skills, the more they help others, the more productive they are: Adam A. Rapp, Daniel G. Bachrach, and Tammy L. Rapp, “The Influence of Time Management Skill on the Curvilinear Relationship Between Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Task Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology 98 (2013): 668–677.

  diminishing returns: Jonathan E. Booth, Kyoung Won Park, and Theresa M. Glomb, “Employer-Supported Volunteering Benefits: Gift Exchange Among Employers, Employees, and Volunteer Organizations,” Human Resource Management 48 (2009): 227–249.

  giving has an energizing effect: Netta Weinstein and Richard M. Ryan, “When Helping Helps: Autonomous Motivation for Prosocial Behavior and Its Influence on Well-Being for the Helper and Recipient,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98 (2010): 222–244.

  firefighters and fund-raising callers: Adam M. Grant, “Does Intrinsic Motivation Fuel the Prosocial Fire? Motivational Synergy in Predicting Persistence, Performance, and Productivity,” Journal of Applied Psychology 93 (2008): 48–58.

  emotional boost from giving doesn’t always kick in right away: Sabine Sonnentag and Adam M. Grant, “Doing Good at Work Feels Good at Home, But Not Right Away: When and Why Perceived Prosocial Impact Predicts Positive Affect,” Personnel Psychology 65 (2012): 495–530.

  robust antidote to burnout: Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, “Sources of Social Support and Burnout: A Meta-Analytic Test of the Conservation of Resources Model,” Journal of Applied Psychol
ogy 91 (2006): 1134–1145.

  started to burn out: Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben and Wm. Matthew Bowler, “Emotional Exhaustion and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Motivation,” Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (2007): 93–106.

  tend and befriend: Shelley E. Taylor, “Tend and Befriend: Biobehavioral Bases of Affiliation Under Stress,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 (2006): 273–277; see also Bernadette von Dawans, Urs Fischbacher, Clemens Kirschbaum, Ernst Fehr, and Markus Henrichs, “The Social Dimension of Stress Reactivity: Acute Stress Increases Prosocial Behavior in Humans,” Psychological Science 23 (2012): 651–660.

  health professionals: Dirk van Dierendonck, Wilmar B. Schaufeli, and Bram P. Buunk, “Burnout and Inequity Among Human Service Professionals: A Longitudinal Study,” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 6 (2001): 43–52; and Nico W. Van Yperen, Bram P. Buunk, and Wilmar B. Schaufeli, “Communal Orientation and the Burnout Syndrome Among Nurses,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 22 (1992): 173–189.

  willpower: Elizabeth Seeley and Wendi Gardner, “The ‘Selfl ess’ and Self-Regulation: The Role of Chronic Other-Orientation in Averting Self-Regulatory Depletion,” Self and Identity 2 (2003): 103–117.

  Utah: Jon Huntsman, Winners Never Cheat (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008); and Steve Eaton, “Huntsmans Urge Strong Work Ethic,” KSL, May 8, 2011.

  income and charitable giving: Arthur C. Brooks, Who Really Cares (New York: Basic Books, 2006), “Does Giving Make Us Prosperous?” Journal of Economics and Finance 31 (2007): 403–411; and Gross National Happiness (New York: Basic Books, 2008).

  as people get richer: Paul K. Piff, Michael W. Kraus, Stéphane Côté, Bonnie Hayden Cheng, and Dacher Keltner, “Having Less, Giving More: The Influence of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99 (2010): 771–784.

  spend the money on others: Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton, “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” Science 319 (2008): 1687–1688.

  warm glow: James Andreoni, William T. Harbaugh, and Lise Vesterlund, “Altruism in Experiments,” in New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd ed., ed. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).

  neuroscience evidence: William T. Harbaugh, Ulrich Mayr, and Daniel R. Burghart, “Neural Responses to Taxation and Voluntary Giving Reveal Motives for Charitable Donations,” Science 316 (2007): 1622–1625; and Jorge Moll, Frank Krueger, Roland Zahn, Matteo Pardini, Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, and Jordan Grafman, “Human Fronto-Mesolimbic Networks Guide Decisions about Charitable Donations,” PNAS 103 (2006): 15623–15628.

  Americans over age twenty-four: Peggy A. Thoits and Lyndi N. Hewitt, “Volunteer Work and Well-being,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 42 (2001): 115–131.

  drop in depression: Yunqing Li and Kenneth F. Ferraro, “Volunteering and Depression in Later Life: Social Benefit or Selection Processes?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46 (2005): 68–84.

  actually live longer: Marc A. Musick, A. Regula Herzog, and James S. House, “Volunteering and Mortality Among Older Adults: Findings from a National Sample,” Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences 54B (1999): S173–S180; and Stephanie L. Brown, Randolph M. Nesse, Amiram D. Vinokur, and Dylan M. Smith, “Providing Social Support May Be More Beneficial Than Receiving It: Results from a Prospective Study of Mortality,” Psychological Science 14 (2003): 320–327.

  massages: Tiff any M. Field, Maria Hernandez-Reif, Olga Quintino, Saul Schanberg, and Cynthia Kuhn, “Elder Retired Volunteers Benefit from Giving Massage Therapy to Infants,” Journal of Applied Gerontology 17 (1998): 229–239.

  national survey of Americans: Roy F. Baumeister, Kathleen D. Vohs, Jennifer L. Aaker, and Emily N. Garbinsky, “Some Key Differences between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life,” Journal of Positive Psychology (forthcoming).

  happiness can motivate people: see Sigal G. Barsade and Donald E. Gibson, “Why Does Affect Matter in Organizations?” Academy of Management Perspectives 21 (2007): 36–59; Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Psychological Bulletin 131 (6): 803–855; and Timothy A. Judge, Carl J. Thoresen, Joyce E. Bono, and Gregory K. Patton, “The Job Satisfaction—Job Performance Relationship: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review,” Psychological Bulletin 127 (2001): 376–407.

  faster and more accurate diagnoses: Carlos A. Estrada, Alice M. Isen, and Mark J. Young, “Positive Affect Facilitates Integration of Information and Decreases Anchoring in Reasoning Among Physicians,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 72 (1997): 117–135.

  Virgin mogul: Richard Branson, Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way (New York: Crown Business, 1999), 56; and Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur (New York: Penguin, 2011), 327.

  more sustainable contributions: Adam M. Grant and David M. Mayer, “Good Soldiers and Good Actors: Prosocial and Impression Management Motives as Interactive Predictors of Affiliative Citizenship Behaviors,” Journal of Applied Psychology 94 (2009): 900–912.

  Chapter 7: Chump Change

  Opening stories: Personal interviews with Jason Geller (December 14, 2011), “Lillian Bauer” (January 15, 2012), and Peter Audet (December 12, 2011, and January 19, 2012).

  consultants in a large professional services firm: Diane M. Bergeron, Abbie J. Shipp, Benson Rosen, and Stacie A. Furst, “Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Career Outcomes: The Cost of Being a Good Citizen,” Journal of Management (forthcoming).

  victims of crimes: Robert Homant, “Risky Altruism as a Predictor of Criminal Victimization,” Criminal Justice and Behavior 37 (2010): 1195–1216.

  thin slicing: Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York: Back Bay Books, 2007); and Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal, “Half a Minute: Predicting Teacher Evaluations from Thin Slices of Nonverbal Behavior and Physical Attractiveness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64 (1993): 431–441.

  close friends: Stephen Leider, Markus M. Mobius, Tanya Rosenblat, and Quoc-Anh Do, “What Do We Expect from Our Friends?” Journal of the European Economic Association 8 (2010): 120–138.

  agreeableness: Lauri A. Jensen-Campbell, Jennifer M. Knack, and Haylie L. Gomez, “The Psychology of Nice People,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 4 (2010): 1042–1056.

  scan the brains: Colin G. DeYoung, Jacob B. Hirsh, Matthew S. Shane, Xenophon Papademetris, Nallakkandi Rajeevan, and Jeremy R. Gray, “Testing Predictions from Personality Neuroscience: Brain Structure and the Big Five,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 820-828.

  regardless of whether our personalities trend agreeable or disagreeable: on the distinction between compassion and politeness, see Colin G. DeYoung, Lena C. Quilty, and Jordan B. Peterson, “Between Facets and Domains: 10 Aspects of the Big Five,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93 (2007): 880–896; on compassion connecting more strongly to honesty and humility than agreeableness, see Michael C. Ashton and Kibeom Lee, “Empirical, Theoretical, and Practical Advantages of the HEXACO Model of Personality Structure,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 11 (2007): 150–166; on distinguishing agreeableness from giver values, see Sonia Roccas, Lilach Sagiv, Shalom H. Schwartz, and Ariel Knafo, “The Big Five Personality Factors and Personal Values,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002): 789–801.

  Mike Homer: Personal interviews with Danny Shader (February 13, 2012), Greg Sands (March 5, 2012), and an anonymous mentee (February 28, 2012).

  givers are more accurate: Dawne S. Vogt and C. Randall Colvin, “Interpersonal Orientation and the Accuracy of Personality Judgments,” Journal of Personality 71 (2003): 267–295.

  Givers see individual differences: Harold H. Kelley and Anthony J. Stahelski, “The Inference of I
ntentions from Moves in the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 6 (1970): 401–419; see also Nancy L. Carter and J. Mark Weber, “Not Pollyannas: Higher Generalized Trust Predicts Lie Detection Ability,” Social Psychological and Personality Science 1 (2010): 274-279.

  Strangers and dating couples: William R. Fry, Ira J. Firestone, and David L. Williams, “Negotiation Process and Outcome of Stranger Dyads and Dating Couples: Do Lovers Lose?” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 4 (1983): 1–16.

  appeal to Rich’s self-interest: see E. Gil Clary, Mark Snyder, Robert D. Ridge, Peter K. Miene, and Julie A. Haugen, “Matching Messages to Motives in Persuasion: A Functional Approach to Promoting Volunteerism,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 24 (1994): 1129–1149.

  empathize at the bargaining table: Adam D. Galinsky, William W. Maddux, Debra Gilin, and Judith B. White, “Why It Pays to Get Inside the Head of Your Opponent: The Differential Effects of Perspective Taking and Empathy on Negotiation,” Psychological Science 19 (2008): 378–384.

  veterinarians who empathized with their customers charged them lower prices: William L. Cron, Mary C. Gilly, John L. Graham, and John W. Slocum Jr., “Gender Differences in the Pricing of Professional Services: Implications for Income and Customer Relationships,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 109 (2009): 93–105.

  cooperative when working with cooperative partners: Paul A. M. Van Lange, “The Pursuit of Joint Outcomes and Equality in Outcomes: An Integrative Model of Social Value Orientation,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (1999): 337–349; see also Jennifer Chatman and Sigal Barsade, “Personality, Organizational Culture, and Cooperation: Evidence from a Business Simulation,” Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1995): 423–443.

  tit for tat: Martin A. Nowak and Roger Highfield, SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed (New York: Free Press, 2011), 36.