This article analyses strategies of communication to motivate ordinary individuals to act in accord with cosmopolitan ethics. The central argument of the article is that research on cosmopolitan motivation needs to engage much more actively with research in psychology and communications, which provide significant insights on the effectiveness of strategies that moral philosophers have proposed to motivate cosmopolitan action. The article critically analyses ‘thick cosmopolitan’ motivation strategies, which highlight the collective culpability of affluent individuals in the global North for the poverty in the global South as a means to motivate cosmopolitan action. Drawing on research in psychology, the article argues that the emphasis on culpability can have adverse impacts at odds with cosmopolitan ethics. The article then proposes alternative communication strategies for cosmopolitan motivation, drawing again on research in psychology and communications.