Something you didn’t mention is the framing effect. It seems to me that the framing effect was the main factor in raising all that money. If I ask you to pay $5352 instead of $5346, who cares? It’s basically the same amount. The differences between the two figures feels negligible. On the other hand, if you are walking down the street and I ask you for $6, that feels quite real. It might be a sizable fraction of what you have in your wallet at the moment. (Especially for a college student.)
Of course this is irrational, as it’s really $6 either way, But, sadly, that is how human brains function. (And this does raise the question of whether it is ethical to exploit that, even if it is for charity. Anything for a good cause, right?...)
Something you didn’t mention is the framing effect. It seems to me that the framing effect was the main factor in raising all that money. If I ask you to pay $5352 instead of $5346, who cares? It’s basically the same amount. The differences between the two figures feels negligible. On the other hand, if you are walking down the street and I ask you for $6, that feels quite real. It might be a sizable fraction of what you have in your wallet at the moment. (Especially for a college student.)
Of course this is irrational, as it’s really $6 either way, But, sadly, that is how human brains function. (And this does raise the question of whether it is ethical to exploit that, even if it is for charity. Anything for a good cause, right?...)