The viral charity phenomenon is based on some sound psychological principles.

[Reblogging from Psychology Today]

By now, you have likely either participated in or at least observed others take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that has swept the nation in recent days. It is amazing how popular this trend has become overnight. Who would have guessed that you could so quickly get countless people from all walks of life to publicly dump ice water over their heads to support the ALS Foundation?

But if you know a few things about psychology and theories of behavior change, this viral phenomenon makes perfect sense and, in fact, isn’t so surprising at all. For the challenge to become the phenomenon it has, a confluence of psychological principles have to come together, including these 6:

You can read the full article here.