This is such cool research! Thanks to everybody who contributed :)
I’ve found the majority of EA University Club members drift out of the EA community and into fairly low impact careers. These people presumably agree with all the EA basic premises, and many of them have done in depth EA fellowships, so they aren’t just agreeing to ideas in a quick survey due to experimenter demands, acquiescence bias, etc.
Yet, exposure to/agreement with EA philosophy doesn’t seem sufficient to convince people to actually make high impact career choices. I would say the conversion rate is actually shockingly low. Maybe CEA has more information on this, but I would be surprised if more than 5% of people who do Introductory EA fellowships make a high impact career change.
So I would be super excited to see more research into your first future direction: “Beyond agreement with basic EA principles, what other (e.g., motivational or cognitive) predictors are essential to becoming more engaged and making valuable contributions?”
Yes: lots of people agree with EA in principle. But, of those, very few are motivated to do anything. As a suggestion for future research, could you look for what might predict serious commitment in later life?
FWIW, my hunch is the distribution of motivation to be altruistic is not normally distributed, but perhaps even approaching bi-modal: there few people are prepared to dedicate their lives to helping others, but most people will only help if the costs to them are very low.
Why do you think a conversion rate of 5% is shockingly low? Depending on the intervention this can be a high rate in marketing. A fellowship seems like a relatively small commitment and changing the career is a relatively high ask. As we’re not emphasizing earning to give as much as before I would also expect many people to not find high impact work.
This is a thing I and a lot of other organizers I’ve talked to have really struggled with. My pet theory that I’ll eventually write up and post (I really will, I promise!) is that you need Alignment, Agency, and Ability to have a high impact. Would definitely be interested in actual research on this.
I would be surprised if more than 5% of people who do Introductory EA fellowships make a high impact career change.
Do you have a sense of the fraction of people who do introductory fellowships, then make some attempt at a high impact career change? A mundane way for this 5% to happen would be if lots of people apply to a bunch of jobs or degree programs, some of which are high impact, then go with something lower impact before getting an offer for anything high impact.
Do you think part of the reason is that they may find it difficult to get into high impact careers, that they lose interest, or that there are other different factors affecting their decisions like pay, where they can live, etc?
I would say the conversion rate is actually shockingly low. Maybe CEA has more information on this, but I would be surprised if more than 5% of people who do Introductory EA fellowships make a high impact career change.
Do you have any sense of how many of those people are earning to give or end up making donation to effective causes play a significant role in their lives? I wonder if 5% is at least a little pessimistic for the “retention” of effective altruists if it’s not accounting for people who take this path to making an impact.
This is such cool research! Thanks to everybody who contributed :)
I’ve found the majority of EA University Club members drift out of the EA community and into fairly low impact careers. These people presumably agree with all the EA basic premises, and many of them have done in depth EA fellowships, so they aren’t just agreeing to ideas in a quick survey due to experimenter demands, acquiescence bias, etc.
Yet, exposure to/agreement with EA philosophy doesn’t seem sufficient to convince people to actually make high impact career choices. I would say the conversion rate is actually shockingly low. Maybe CEA has more information on this, but I would be surprised if more than 5% of people who do Introductory EA fellowships make a high impact career change.
So I would be super excited to see more research into your first future direction: “Beyond agreement with basic EA principles, what other (e.g., motivational or cognitive) predictors are essential to becoming more engaged and making valuable contributions?”
Yes: lots of people agree with EA in principle. But, of those, very few are motivated to do anything. As a suggestion for future research, could you look for what might predict serious commitment in later life?
FWIW, my hunch is the distribution of motivation to be altruistic is not normally distributed, but perhaps even approaching bi-modal: there few people are prepared to dedicate their lives to helping others, but most people will only help if the costs to them are very low.
Why do you think a conversion rate of 5% is shockingly low? Depending on the intervention this can be a high rate in marketing. A fellowship seems like a relatively small commitment and changing the career is a relatively high ask. As we’re not emphasizing earning to give as much as before I would also expect many people to not find high impact work.
This is a thing I and a lot of other organizers I’ve talked to have really struggled with. My pet theory that I’ll eventually write up and post (I really will, I promise!) is that you need Alignment, Agency, and Ability to have a high impact. Would definitely be interested in actual research on this.
Sounds really cool! Would love to hear more when you’re ready :)
Do you have a sense of the fraction of people who do introductory fellowships, then make some attempt at a high impact career change? A mundane way for this 5% to happen would be if lots of people apply to a bunch of jobs or degree programs, some of which are high impact, then go with something lower impact before getting an offer for anything high impact.
Do you think part of the reason is that they may find it difficult to get into high impact careers, that they lose interest, or that there are other different factors affecting their decisions like pay, where they can live, etc?
From my experience with running EA at Georgia Tech, I think the main factors are:
not prioritizing high-impact causes
not being interested in changing their career plans
lack of high-impact career opportunities that fit their career interests, or not knowing about them
not having the skills to get high-impact internships or jobs
Great question! We need more research ;)
Really interesting observations.
Do you have any sense of how many of those people are earning to give or end up making donation to effective causes play a significant role in their lives? I wonder if 5% is at least a little pessimistic for the “retention” of effective altruists if it’s not accounting for people who take this path to making an impact.