Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-20T18:40:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-21T15:24:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2014\/08\/Anxious-woman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1698\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1131\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html\",\"name\":\"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-20T18:40:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-21T15:24:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism","description":"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism","og_description":"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2014-08-20T18:40:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-21T15:24:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1698,"height":1131,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2014\/08\/Anxious-woman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html","name":"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-20T18:40:32+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-21T15:24:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":10126,"date":"2014-08-20T14:40:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T18:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=10126"},"modified":"2014-08-21T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T15:24:07","slug":"purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/08\/purity-anxiety-and-effective-altruism.html","title":{"rendered":"Purity, Anxiety, and Effective Altruism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"mark$ <\/a><\/p>\n

During the past weekend, I got into a conversation with some folks about the knock-on effects of getting involved with effective altruism (and outlets like GiveWell<\/a>). \u00a0Effective Altruism, at core, is the attempt to make sure your charity dollars are spent effectively. \u00a0For a long time, people tried to just use \u201coverhead\u201d as a proxy for effectiveness, since a group that mostly spends your money on its own salaries and office spaces isn\u2019t doing a very good job.<\/p>\n

GiveWell takes a much more detailed approach to its audits, looking at the effectiveness of the intervention (bednets and deworming improve people\u2019s lives more than toy donations, as far as we can tell), potential to scale, and a variety of other factors. \u00a0I do most to all of my donations through GiveWell vetted charities, and put a lot of other non-profit donations into a different mental category \u2014 more like Medici-esque patronage.<\/p>\n

But, for some people, getting involved in effective altruism is morally disorienting \u2014 once you start translating the objects and purchases around you into bednets, should you really have any of them? \u00a0Should you skip a gruel diet so you can keep your strength up, work as an I-banker, and \u201cearn to give\u201d \u2014 funneling your salary into good causes? \u00a0Ruminating on these questions can lead to analysis paralysis \u2014 plus a hefty serving of guilt.<\/p>\n

In the midst of our discussion, I came up with a speculative hypothesis about what might drive this kind of reaction to Effective Altruism. \u00a0While people were sharing stories about their friends, some of their anxious behaviors and thoughts sounded akin to Catholic scrupulosity. \u00a0One of the more exaggerated examples of scrupulosity is a Catholic who gets into the confessional, lists her sins, receives absolution, and then immediately gets back into line, worried that she did something\u00a0wrong<\/em> in her confession, and should now confess that error.<\/p>\n

Both of these obviously bear some resemblance to anxiety\/OCD, period, but I was interested in speculating a little about\u00a0why. \u00a0<\/em>In Jonathan Haidt\u2019s\u00a0The Righteous Mind<\/em><\/a>, he lays out a kind of factor analysis of what drives people\u2019s moral intuitions. \u00a0In his research, some moral foundations<\/a> (e.g. care\/harm) are pretty common to everyone, but some (sanctity\/degradation or \u201cpurity\u201d) are more predictive in some groups than others.<\/p>\n

My weak hypothesis is that effective altruism can feel more like a \u201cpurity\u201d decision than other modes of thought people have used to date. \u00a0You can be inoculated against moral culture shock by previous exposure to other purity-flavored kinds of reasoning (deontology, religion, etc), but, if not (and maybe if you\u2019re also predisposed to anxiety), the sudden clarity about a\u00a0best<\/em> mode of action, that is both very important, and very unlikely for you pull off everyday may trigger scrupulosity.<\/p>\n

Lots of the effective and healthy exalted purity lifestyles I can think of are monastic \u2014 where you live in community, as part of a tradition with people who have been doing this for a while. \u00a0The effective altruism movement, at present, might be a little more like a group of novices holding a copy of Benedict\u2019s Rule<\/a>. \u00a0Even if it\u2019s a good set of principles, it\u2019ll be rocky to live by trial and error as beginners together.<\/p>\n

Again, all this is mostly speculative pattern matching between anecdotes on my part, but I would be a little curious to push on my model and ask some of my priest friends how they help people burdened by scrupulosity and seeing if that advice ports well.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also be pretty curious to see if you guys can think of other examples (speculative is fine \u2014 we\u2019re brainstorming) where people \u201cadd\u201d a moral foundation (in Haidt\u2019s schema) and wind up disoriented as a result.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today is the seventh day of my novena to St.\u00a0Maximilian\u00a0Kolbe. \u00a0Free free to pray along<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"