The Mother Teresa Effect: Counterproductive Effects of Touching an Altruist’ s Possessions on Charitable Giving Amanda L. Morin & Kristin Yoke & Tong Lu & Sara E. Brady & Charles G. Lord # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Charities that recruit famous humanitarians, or obtain celebrity endorse- ments, may promote products associated with these altruistic superstars in an effort to increase donations. Previous research supports that “superstar” role models can pro- mote desirable behavior. Charitable organizations may assume if people handle a product associated with a famous humanitarian, they will be inspired and more motivated to donate as a result. An opposite possibility is that physically handling reminders of an extreme altruist may result in contrast effects. Such positive exemplars may result in more negative perceptions of one’ s own charitable behavior, and decrease the perceived efficacy of one’ s own contributions. In two studies, participants did or did not touch items said to have belonged to a very altruistic person (Experiment 1) or to Mother Teresa (Experiment 2). Compared to participants in non-touch and other control conditions, those who physically touched items said to belong to an altruist subse- quently donated fewer raffle tickets to charity. The results are related to theories of perceived efficacy, metacognitive processes, and the counterproductive influence of extremely positive role models. Keywords Charitable giving . Perceived efficacy . Physical touching . Role models The Mother Teresa Effect: Touching an Altruist’ s Possessions and Charitable Giving Inanimate objects can have symbolic significance. Stroking a lock of hair or other keepsake can elicit strong memories and emotions. Many charitable organizations rely on the symbolic significance of inanimate objects in their efforts to increase donations. The nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Curr Psychol DOI 10.1007/s12144-014-9282-x A. L. Morin : K. Yoke (*) : T. Lu : S. E. Brady : C. G. Lord Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, 298920, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA e-mail: kristin.yoke@tcu.edu