Pillar 01
This pillar systematically aggregates and synthesizes research on altruistic and prosocial decision-making, creating a centralized, accessible knowledge base. Alongside the literature, this pillar would house a shared hub of evidence-based tools, interventions, and experimental methods – such as games, curricula, and behavioral frameworks – that operationalize research findings to increase altruistic cooperation.
In practice: This pillar would take a similar shape as EA Psychology with some main differences:
Pillar 02
This pillar aims to integrate altruistic decision-making research into educational, professional, and social contexts by disseminating evidence-based content and tools across media, university curricula, workplaces, and broader societal settings so the research can reach people widely and help shape how people learn, work, and make decisions.
In practice: this means developing clear, adaptable use cases for a range of audiences, including media, academic programs, nonprofits, philanthropy, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. While the specific implementations will evolve, illustrative avenues include:
Pillar 03
This pillar centers on an incubator-style program that houses research assistants and fellows who collaborate to translate altruistic decision-making research into real-world applications that can be broadly disseminated.
I envision this as a living hub where fellows stay up to date with the latest research, identify promising findings, and build practical tools and interventions – analogous to projects like Giving Multiplier or similar applied frameworks – that can scale beyond academic settings. These outputs could take the form of decision aids, curricula, digital tools, or media pushes designed for use in education, philanthropy, workplaces, and societal exposure. One striking example of research translating into real-world impact is Joshua Greene’s appearance on Alie Ward’s Ologies podcast, where he discussed his research alongside the work of Giving Multiplier – resulting in $775,000 directed to charity! This institute aims to catalyze many more initiatives like this.
Academics are often not social entrepreneurs, nor do they typically have the time, funding, or incentives to instantiate their work into practical and public interventions. This pillar is designed to bridge that gap by pairing rigorous research with dedicated capacity for synthesis, productization, and deployment, ensuring that insights do not remain siloed in journals but are converted into usable, high-impact applications and broadly advertised where useful.
